News

Recent dairy markets good for producers

A market analyst says the recent dairy price spikes were a quick response to what was happening in foreign markets.

Commodity broker and Dairy Business Association President Mike North tells Brownfield production in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand didn’t hit projections, causing prices to jump. “We saw a moonshot in the butter market that took us substantially higher, north of $2.40 a pound, and that was in tandem with the higher trade in Oceania, the higher trade in Europe, and consequently, it gave a boost to our Class IV markets and at the same time, cheese markets were following along.”

North says the movement in the butter and cheese market and the fairly steady butter demand is helping farmers, even though some prices have leveled off after peaking.  “It’s given some really nice rise to our milk prices and returned values in the second half of the year back north of 17-dollars on average, so some good opportunities for dairymen as well.”

North says producers should continue to watch for significant milk price movement in the 17-dollar zone and consider options to take advantage of those higher prices.