Market News

Cash cheese steady in quiet session

Cash cheese prices held steady on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Thursday, butter slipped 2 cents and nonfat dry milk increased a quarter-cent.  Most of the Class III futures contracts for 2015 slipped a little.

Dairy Market News says cheese makers continue to take in all the milk they can as there has been a surprising amount of interest from retail and food service buyers.  Some plants are fortifying vats with nonfat dry milk.  Barrel availability is tighter than blocks

Cheese production in the United States totaled 884 million pounds in February up 3.9 percent from February of last year.  Italian-type cheese output was 5.4 percent above a year ago at 394 million pounds.  American-type cheese production increased 2.5 percent to 349 million pounds.

Butter production totaled 156 million pounds for the month down 4.8 percent from February of 2014.