Prices for just about everything appear to be growing faster than weeds sprouting from cheap bird seed.

So do not expect that your customers will get a break on sunflower seeds, just about the most popular in the business.

"New crop prices for oil and confection sunflowers remain at historically high levels," Larry Kleingartner, executive director of the National Sunflower Association, said in his weekly press release

"The global supply and demand balances of oilseeds as well as of oil and meal are likely to remain tight, due to the low stocks at the start of the season and the strong demand during the rest of this marketing year."

That’s not great news for the birding business. Sunflower seeds account for a significant portion of profits for many birding retailers.

"Current prices for oilseeds, oils and meal could come under selling pressure due to improved weather in the Midwest, indications that there will be a stoppage of the Argentine farm strike and the decline in crude petroleum oil prices," Kleingartner said.

U.S. imports of refined sunflower oil are on the rise, according to Kleingartner, pointing to an increase of 16 percent over imports at this time last year.

Mexico, with 77 percent of our total sunflower import, has increased shipments from 7,000 to 10,000 metric tons, a 44 percent increase from a year ago at this time.

"Industry sources indicate that the vast majority of imports are bottled oil being sold in more heavily concentrated Hispanic areas of the U.S.," Kleingartner said. "Sunflower oil has a very good quality image with this market segment. With the Hispanic population on the rise in the U.S., this could give a U.S. oil bottler a great opportunity to increase domestic sales."

According to the Kiplinger Report, Midwest floods could take a huge toll on business and prices as well. It could take years to clean up billions of dollars in damage to houses, farms, railroad tracks, businesses and other property. Congress has already added $2.65 billion to federal disaster programs.

The initial impact included shipping delays leading to higher costs. Rail tracks through Illinois were of limited use after flooding. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pulled equipment from 250 miles of Mississippi River locks, shutting down barge operations for a few weeks.

There’s potential for more crop losses since fields of corn were sown late. Early projections are that corn could fall 2 billion bushels short of normal yearly production.