Wild Bird Feeding Industry Update

Are you a member of the Wild Bird Feeding Industry? If not, you may not get their E-News Updates. Highlights from the current issue include updates on the sunflower and Nyjer crop:

"The sunflower planting intentions released on March 30, 2008 by the US Department of Agriculture are up by 4-5% over last year.

Since the report was issued on March 30, soybeans (which showed an 18% increase in acres in the report) have steadily increased in price.

There is a larger than normal soybean crop in Argentina, and the Argentine government has put tariffs on ag commodity exports in order to keep enough food in their country. This has caused the Chinese to buy more from the U.S. and kept prices firm on both Sunflower and Soybeans.

Corn is also going up in order to steal acres from soybeans. With the wet weather down south, farmers are having some trouble planting their corn, so corn prices are firm as well.

To sum it up, the planting intentions report is intentions only, and there are still alot of changes going on at the farm level. Growers have not made up their minds yet, and some farmers are experiencing conditions that are either too wet to plant what they intended or too dry. It is very dry in a large part of North and South Dakota, as well as many other parts of the US.

For current market reports, visit the National Sunflower Association website.

Markets of Nyjer® are calmer but still very high priced. Supplies at origins are adequate but under pressure of internal local oil crushing and speculation. Most importers and exporters see a significant decrease in USA imports in 2008 due to the current high prices."

Also, the WBFI will be having their annual conference November 12 - 15, 2008 in San Antonio, TX.