Even though cash cheese held steady on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Monday, Class III futures slid, especially the second-half 2010 contracts, in anticipation of the USDA Cold Storage Report which came out after the close. Total cheese in storage in the U.S. as of the end of February 955.89 million pounds, nearly 9 million pounds more than at the end of January. American cheese stocks were a record 597 million pounds at the end of February, almost 10 million more than a month earlier and 10.2 percent above a year ago. Other cheese stocks were down a bit for the month. One interesting note, inventories increased in all regions except American stocks in the Pacific Region were down 5 million pounds but other cheese inventories in the region were up 2.7 million pounds.
Last Thursday CWT announced it is reactivating the export assistance program effective immediately for cheddar cheese. CWT is advising its members that it will provide additional incentives for sales to the target markets of Japan, Algeria, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Australia. CWT believes these are prime markets for sales of significant quantities of cheddar cheese, although it will consider bids for sales to other markets as well. Bids must be submitted no later than noon each Wednesday.
Butter stocks at the end of February 198.1 million pounds, down 3.3 percent from a year ago.
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