Market News

Dairy markets drift lower

A busy day in the dairy markets following the long weekend on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Tuesday.  Cash cheese barrels saw 11 loads sold, 15 loads of butter changed hands as prices drifted lower.

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 7 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Michigan Milk Producers, and Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), who have contracts to sell 553.360 pounds of Cheddar, and Monterey Jack cheese, and 749,572 pounds of whole milk powder to customers in Asia, the Middle East, and South America. The product has been contracted for delivery in the period from May through November 2015.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 31.475 million pounds of cheese, 26.482 million pounds of butter, and 20.071 million pounds of whole milk powder to twenty eight countries on five continents

 

Three major U.S. dairy groups have asked the U.S. Trade Representative “to carefully examine” what they see as trade commitment violations in the Lisbon Agreement signed last week.  The Agreement basically expanded the protection of so-called Geographical Indications (GIs) limiting the use of certain product names.  GIs have become a source of dispute between the United States and the European Union which wants to prevent the use of names like parmesan, feta, champagne and others on products which do not originate in those geographic areas.

The U.S. contends the names are so common they are generic.  The U.S. and eleven other nations have protested the Lisbon Agreement as they were not allowed to participate.  National Milk Producers Federation, the International Dairy Foods Association and the U.S. Dairy Export Council say the whole process raises fundamental questions about the legitimacy of the new agreement in that it could be in violation of WTO rules.

 

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