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Milk futures mixed, cash dairy mostly lower

Class III milk futures at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange were mixed, consolidating. March was up $.02 at $15.82, April was down $.06 at $14.99, May was $.15 lower at $15.26, and June was down $.10 at $15.70. August through December 2017 were firm to higher.

Cash cheese blocks were unchanged at $1.44. There were three loads sold at $1.44. The last unfilled bid was on one load, also at $1.44. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $1.45. Barrels were $.02 lower at $1.39. There was one load sold at $1.39. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $1.3925.

Butter was down $.0025 at $2.0975. There was one load sold at $2.0975. The last unfilled bid was on one load at $2.07. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $2.15.

Nonfat dry milk was $.025 lower at $.82. There were a total of 17 loads sold, including three at $.82. The last unfilled bid was on one load at $.815. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $.835.

The USDA says milk production over the past week active in the Midwest. Class I sales have slowed down with many schools on spring break. Spot sales into Class III were flat to $3 below class, but a number of Midwestern cheesemakers are not taking spot milk because contractual needs have been met. Cream availability is high and processors are churning butter at a high rate, with stocks building in the Central region. Domestic demand is called fair to strong with the Midwest seen as active. Cheese production was steady to strong and Midwestern cheesemakers report better demand, possibly because of heavier promotional and advertising activity. Inventories are long. At the retail level, conventional dairy ads were up 9% and organic ads were 27% higher. The spread between conventional and organic half gallons of milk is $1.82, in favor of organic.

According to HighGround Dairy, milk production in Australia during February 2017 was down 6.8% on the year and production for the year to date is 8.1%.

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