Market News

Dairy markets continue to slide

A “down” day to finish a “down” week on the Chicago Mercantile dairy markets on Friday.  Cash cheese barrels lost another 6.75 cents, blocks slipped 1.75 cents and butter dropped 9 cents.

For the week: cash cheese barrels have lost 14.75 cents, blocks dropped 14.75 cents, butter fell 19 cents and nonfat dry milk lost 13.5 cents per pound.  Class III futures November down 78 cents, December lost 79 cents April slipped a penny.

An interesting time in the butter market, prices are going down during what is the strongest demand time of the year.  Buyers are jumping-in with 40 loads sold this week on the CME.  Yet there is some hesitation on thoughts the price could go lower.  Dairy Market News reports there is plenty of cream available but butter makers are hesitant as well as they do not want to build inventories only to have the price go lower.  We are seeing the gap with the global market narrow but not to the point that exports will resume just yet.

 

USDA reports 10.8 billion pounds of milk was delivered into the federal pool in September, 5.1 percent more than delivered in September of 2013.  The all-market average saw 32 percent of that milk go into Class I utilization; 11 percent went Class II; 47 percent was Class III and 10 percent went Class IV.  The weighted average statistical uniform price was $25.47 per hundredweight up $1.17 from August and $5.72 above a year ago.