News

The week in dairy

A rather quiet end to the week in the dairy markets on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Cash cheese blocks, butter and nonfat dry milk were all unchanged, barrels increased a half-cent. For the week, cash cheese barrels increased 4.25 cents, blocks lost 3 cents; butter gained a nickel and nonfat dry milk held steady. Class III futures for June increased 4 cents, July gained 62 cents, August is up 63 cents and December added 60 cents.

Cheese production is strong as milk is readily available and manufacturers are taking advantage of discounted prices on spot loads. Dairy Market News says cheese inventories are building but moderate to good demand has processors and end users looking to rebuild stocks.

The Base Class I Price for July milk is $23.02 per hundredweight up 16 cents from the previous month. Base Skim Milk Price for Class I for July is $15.01, down 57 cents from the previous month.

Thanks to low corn, soybean and alfalfa prices, the USDA Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook says the milk-to-feed ratio is likely to remain at a level that supports expansion of the dairy herd into 2015. They predict the U.S. dairy herd will grow from 9.25 million this year to 9.34 million next year and total milk production of 206 billion pounds this year and 212 billion in 2015. The Class III price for 2014 is pegged at between $20.80 and $21.20 and $16.95 to $17.95 in 2015. The all milk price for 2014 should range from $22.90 to $23.30 slipping to $19.75 to $20.75 in 2015.