Market News

CME, weekly EU dairy prices mixed Wednesday

Milk futures and cash dairy prices were mixed on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Wednesday.  Near-term milk futures were higher, but lower in the long term.

March Class Three milk was up $.04 at $15.31.  April was up $.14 to $15.17. May was up $.05 to $15.32. June was down $.02 to $15.70.  The milk futures from July through next February ranged from six cents lower to seven cents higher.

Dry whey was up $.0125 at  $.36 cents per pound. Eleven sales were recorded from $.3550 to $.36.

Forty-pound blocks were unchanged at $1.61 per pound.  No sales were recorded.

Barrels were unchanged at $1.41 per pound.  No sales were recorded.

Grade AA Butter was down $.0050 to $2.26 per pound.  Three sales were recorded at $2.25 and $2.26.

Nonfat dry milk was up $.0050 to $.99 per pound.  Ten sales were recorded from $.9825 to $.9925.

Dairy prices in the European Union this week compared to last week were mixed.  Whole milk powder prices fell in Germany, but rose slightly in the Netherlands.  Skim milk powder prices were up throughout the EU, including a 2% jump in France.  Whey powder prices were up 3% in France and fractionally in Germany, but down in the Netherlands.  France saw a slight increase in butter prices, but the rest of the EU had butter prices fall as much as 2.5%.  Cheddar cheese made slight gains in Germany and slight declines in Poland.

New Zealand dairy export volumes for January were mixed compared to December and a year ago. 

More than 224-thousand metric tons of whole and skim milk powder were exported in January, which was up 15% from January of 2018 but down 21% from the previous month.  New Zealand exported more than 28-thousand metric tons of butter, which was up 16% from December and almost 30% from the previous January.

New Zealand continued to see higher anhydrous milkfat exports, along with a 33% year-over-year increase in infant formula exports, even though formula sales were off 36% from December.

Cheese, lactose, and buttermilk powder exports were all down for the month.

On Thursday, Fonterra is expected to release their pre-Global Dairy Trade offer volumes for the Tuesday, March 5th sale.