Not much activity in the cash cheese markets on Tuesday but a very busy day for butter. There were ten loads of butter sold on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange along with five unfilled bids and three uncovered offers. Cash butter gained 2.25 cents to close at $1.545 per pound for the day. All of the Class III futures contracts for 2012 and 2013 had small increases except September 2012 which declined a nickel.
The bi-weekly Global Dairy Trade auction at Fonterra saw the overall index down a half-percent from two weeks ago. Anhydrous milk fat was down 0.8% from the last sale while butter powder increased 2.5%. Skim milk powder was down 4.8%, whole milk powder was up 2.7% and milk protein concentrate was down 2.7%. Cheddar cheese declined 3.7% from the last auction.
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 11 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell a total of 1.709 million pounds of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese to customers in Asia, South America, the Middle East, North Africa and South Pacific. The product will be delivered June through November 2012.
In 2012, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in making export sales of Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Gouda cheese totaling 61.7 million pounds and butter and AMF totaling 45.2 million pounds to 32 countries on four continents.
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