GRAND FORKS, N.D.—The sale price for American Crystal Sugar Co. beet stock declined 6 percent in the 2016-2017 selling season after an unusually long trading season.
Jayson Menke is ag stock specialist for FNC Ag Stock, based in Grand Forks, a subsidiary of Farmers National Company. FNC Ag Stock is a registered broker dealer that facilitates public sales for American Crystal stock, as well certain other cooperatives and limited liability companies.
The last American Crystal stock sale through FNC was May 9, when four sales totaled 100 shares traded at $2,350 per share. No further sales are likely, because the planting season is nearing completion.
Average sales for the 2016-2017 season was $2,470 per share for 3,239 shares. The largest sale of shares involved a single buyer who purchased 558 shares - 257 shares at $2,500 on Oct. 13 and another 301 shares at the same price on Oct. 27.
Despite the poor farm economy due to low commodity prices, only one producer indicated to FNC that he was selling shares to continue operating, Menke says.
Shares changing hands account for only about half of a percent of the company's total 498,000 shares. Crystal growers planted only about 398,000 acres, or about 80 percent of the share numbers, a figure that has changed based on the number of acres needed to feed the company's five sugar refining factories in the Red River Valley.
Source: www.4-traders.com