Market News

Cheese buyers waiting to see if prices go lower

Cash cheese barrels nudged a half-cent higher on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday while blocks and butter held steady. Nonfat dry milk gave-back the quarter-cent it gained earlier in the week.  All of the 2015 Class III futures contracts increased with February up 13 cents, March and April each added 23 cents and July was up 4 cents for the day.

National Dairy Products Sales Report for the week ending January 10: cash cheese blocks averaged $1.60 per pound down 1.4 cents from the previous week. Barrels decreased 3.5 cents to average $1.53, butter fell 6.1 cents to $1.56, nonfat dry milk was 8.4 cents lower at $1.06 and dry whey slipped a half-cent to 58.8 cents per pound.

Those declining prices are causing some buyers to be a bit reluctant. Dairy Market News says inventories are building in cheese plants across the country as milk intakes are strong and buyers are holding-off, waiting to see if cheese prices will go lower.