Just as we mentioned cheese buyers were holding-off as prices decline, they jumped in and bought 26 loads on Friday. As a result, cash cheese barrels gained a penny to $1.495 and blocks increased a half-cent to $151 on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Friday. This was the first time the cash cheese market increased since January 6th. Class III futures were mixed for the session, ranging from 9-cents lower to 6-cents higher.
For the week, cash cheese barrels down .75, blocks up .5, butter is 2 cents lower. January Class III is unchanged, February up 23 cents, the March contract is 3 cents higher, April is 8 cents lower and July is down a dime from a week ago.
The January 1 cattle inventory report from USDA puts the nation’s dairy herd at 9.2 million cows up 1 percent from a year ago. Replacement dairy heifers were down 1 percent at 4.5 million head.
The national weighted average advertised price for half-gallons of organic milk decreased 66 cents to $2.68 last week. That is on top of a 28-cent decrease the previous period. USDA Ag Market News says despite tight supplies and even some shortages of organic milk, a national supermarket chain is running a major promotion offering its store brand at historically-low prices.
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