Nearby prices were unchanged at the crush plants last week. It’s the busiest time of year across the sunflower growing region as farmers finish up planting spring 2025 crops and begin crop protection activities over the next few weeks. Planting is nearing the finish line for sunflowers. As of June 22, 92% of expected 2025 sunflower acreage was in the ground, up from 81% from the week prior and ahead of the five-year average of 91%. On June 30, USDA will release its latest planted acres report. In the March intentions report producers indicated they planned to increase oil acres by 62% with confection acres down 12% from last year. Traders are anxious to confirm if this change in acres occurred or is higher than USDA estimates. If the March numbers come about U.S. sunflower production is forecast to be 1.8 billion pounds, which would represent an increase of 57% from last year. The higher production is based on an increase in planted area from 720,800 to 1.07 million acres and trend yields for oil type and confection sunflowers. Oil type sunflower production is projected to increase to 1.6 billion pounds, up 70% from MY 2024/25. Look for demand news and position squaring ahead of USDA’s acreage report to guide the market this week. USDA’s acreage report will be the main driver in the market following its release.

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