News

Dairy margins, fluid milk consumption improving

Dairy margins continued to improve in November.  The National Milk Producers Federation says the monthly margin under the Dairy Margin Coverage Program for September set a second-straight record high at $15.57 per hundredweight.  The federation says the increased profitability is the result of falling feed costs, better milk prices, and some recovery from a mid-year dairy export slump.

Monthly milk production was slightly higher in August and September, ending a 13-month stretch where production was below previous-year levels.  The federation says it will be hard to increase milk production much more because of scarce replacement heifers and the high costs to expand facilities for larger herds.  National Milk says producers are increasing supplies without expanding the herd with higher component levels in milk.

As for sales, the federation says fluid milk sales were down 1.6% from September of 2023, but sales are above 2023 levels for five of the first nine months of 2024.