May 21, 2026
Sunflower Meal Leads Protein at 68% of Soybean Meal
Sunflower meal at $0.240/lb crude protein (68% of soybean meal) leads this week's protein board. Hominy feed leads energy at 73% of corn. Wheat middlings up 37% on the week. Yellow grease running 51-84% above its five-year median.
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Sunflower meal is the cheapest protein on the board this week at $0.240 per pound of crude protein on a dry-matter basis, 68 percent of soybean meal's cost per pound, per USDA feedstuffs data. Feather meal follows at $0.245 per pound (69% of soybean meal) and meat and bone meal at $0.279 per pound (79%). The soybean meal benchmark is roughly $338 per ton FOB.
- fob plant
- Energy leaderboard: Hominy feed leads at $0.075 per pound of TDN on a dry-matter basis (73% of corn), soybean hulls second at $0.090 (87%) and wheat middlings third at $0.092 (89%). The USDA corn benchmark is roughly $160 per ton delivered ($4.48/bu, US #2 yellow).
- Wheat middlings, Kansas FOB plant: $167 per ton this week, up 37% on the week. The largest single-week move among scored feedstuffs and 49% above the five-year median. Wheat middlings remain the third-cheapest energy source at 89% of corn per pound of TDN on a dry-matter basis.
- DDGS: At roughly $184 per ton, DDGS prices energy at 112% of corn's cost per pound of TDN and protein at 97% of soybean meal's cost per pound of crude protein. It does not lead either leaderboard axis this week.
- Yellow grease: Running 51-84% above the five-year median across California and Midwest markets, per USDA. California Central Coast FOB plant is $63 per ton (up 11% on the week, 84% above the five-year median). Choice white grease, Minnesota, FOB plant is $80 per ton (63% above the five-year median). These are fat-source prices; they are not ranked on the TDN or crude-protein leaderboard.
- Benchmarks: Corn eased to $4.48 per bushel (roughly $160 per ton delivered, US #2 yellow), down 1.3% on the week and 1% below the five-year median. Soybeans are at $12.05 per bushel (3.3% below the five-year median), with soybean meal near $338 per ton FOB. A softer corn benchmark shifts the cost-per-pound-of-TDN reference for every feedstuff on the energy leaderboard.
41 series have not updated in more than two weeks, including alfalfa pellets, almond hulls and barley. Figures from these series are unconfirmed until the next USDA report cycle.