Sunflower Demand Slightly Lower

As sunflower planting continues in most states, the planting season is ahead of the five-year average. John Sandbakken, executive director of the National Sunflower Association, gives an update on the sunflower market as a whole.

“What's happened this year is the last two years and 22 and 23 we had some really large crops, and this year, acre is going to be down a little bit on the sunflower side, as the market kind of works with those stocks. And so, you know, we're going to see a little bit of a decrease this year. But, you know, given the demand that we have, you know, the stocks that we have in storage and what we're going to probably produce this year. It's going to be pretty tight by the end of the next marketing here.”

Sandbakken says confectionery sunflower crops make up 15 to 20% of the total, and that confection market is remaining stable and consistent overall. He says supply and demand are on the rise, and overall, sunflower supply and demand are on the rise.

“You know, overall, the world is looking at about a 1% increase this year. And there, you know, the two largest producers in the world are Ukraine and Russia currently. Know they've been experiencing some weather issues, um, not quite certain yet exactly how that's going to affect their sunflower crops. But you know, anytime there's any kind of a weather scare or any kind of something like that in the market, it always opens up more opportunities for us,”

The National Sunflower Associations' John Sandbakken.