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Milk futures, cash cheese lower

Class III milk futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were down on profit taking as the market resumed its recent trend. March was $.16 lower at $16.27, April was down $.34 at $16.32, May was $.32 lower at $16.48, and June was down $.25 at $16.74.

Cash cheese blocks were up $.0175 at $1.575. There was one load sold at $1.575. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $1.58. Barrels were down $.0225 at $1.5175. There were a total of 20 loads sold, including 16 at $1.52 and two at $1.5175. The last unfilled bid was on one load at $1.51. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $1.53.

Butter held at $2.13. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $2.16.

Nonfat dry milk was $.03 lower at $.8225. There were eight loads sold, including three at $.82 and two at $.8225. The last unfilled bid was on one load at $.815. The last uncovered offer was for two loads at $.83.

The USDA reports fluid milk yields were steady to higher over the past week in most of the major production areas. Bottling demand in the Midwest was steady but Class I sales are a little uneven ahead of Spring Break. There are plenty of spot loads of cream available and Midwestern multiples are 1.04 to 1.20.

Thanks to those available loads of cream, butter churning is active. Retail demand for print butter is solid and bulk sales to larger food processors and bakers are also called active. The print butter is for spring holidays, while a lot of the bulk butter is headed to cold storage.

Midwestern cheese making is active and block and barrel inventories are rising.

At the retail level, conventional dairy ads were down 24% and organic dropped 41%. The price spread between organic and conventional half gallons of milk is $1.47 in favor of organic.

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