Sunflower Plantings Increasing
VANCOUVER - April 2/15 - SNS -- Birdseed ingredient markets were little changed on the week, with markets assessing the impact of this year's USDA seeding intentions and stocks in all positions reports.
The USDA did not forecast millet plantings, but said farmers plan to increase sunflower area 14% to 1.79 million acres.
Area intended for oil type varieties, at 1.49 million acres, is up 27% from 2014. The area intended for non-oil varieties, estimated at 301,000 acres, is down 23% from last year.
The stocks in all positions report found there were 696 million pounds of sunflower on hand on March 1, down 14% from last year. Farmers were holding 257 million pounds, while off-farm stocks totaled 439 million pounds.
Stocks of oil type sunflower seed are 503 million pounds; of this total, 195 million pounds are on-farm stocks and 308 million pounds are off-farm stocks. Non-oil sunflower stocks totaled 193 million pounds, with 61.4 million pounds stored on the farm and 131 million pounds stored off the farm.
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