Market News

Milk futures, cash dairy mostly higher

In Class III trade at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, milk futures were mostly, modestly higher, buying back part of Tuesday’s losses. July was unchanged at $15.27, August was $.08 higher at $16.94, September was up $.04 at $16.78, and October was $.08 higher at $16.65.

Over in the spot market, cash cheese blocks were up $.015 at $1.72. There were two trades, one at $1.715 and one at $1.72. The last unfilled bid was on one load at $1.71. Barrels were steady at $1.775.

Butter was down $.025 at $2.225. There were two sales reported, at $2.235 and $2.2275. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $2.2225.

Nonfat dry milk was $.005 higher at $.8425. There was one load sold at that price and three at $.8375. The last uncovered offer was for four loads at $.8475.

The USDA reports that for the week ending July 23rd, butter averaged $2.31 per pound, up two tenths of a cent on the week, with sales of more than 4 million pounds. 40 pound blocks of Cheddar cheese were pegged at $1.62, 3.5 cents higher, with sales topping 12.3 million pounds. 500 pound barrels averaged $1.74, an increase of 4.8 cents, with sales of 8.7 million pounds. Dry whey came out at $.282, up eight tenths, with sales of 6.8 million pounds. Nonfat dry milk averaged $.847, 1.1 cents higher, with sales of 21 million pounds.

For the week ending July 22nd, California’s Department of Agriculture says nonfat dry milk averaged $.7859 per pound, down more than a quarter cent on the week. Sales of 9.5 million pounds were almost a million lower than the week before.