Thursday Midday Dairy Market Update - Cheddar Blocks Rebound

OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY:

CORN:	1 Lower
SOYBEANS:	9 Higher
SOYBEAN MEAL:	$1.30 Higher
LIVE CATTLE:	$0.70 Lower
DOW JONES:	128 Points Lower
NASDAQ:	670 Points Lower
CRUDE OIL:	$2.11 Higher

MIDDAY MARKET UPDATE:

The block cheese price increased 2.25 cents to close at $1.7250 with 1 load traded. The barrel cheese price was unchanged at $1.7200 with no loads traded. Dry Whey was unchanged at 84.25 cents with no loads traded. Class III futures are 4 cents lower to 29 cents higher. The butter price was unchanged at $1.3300 with 24 loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk was unchanged at $2.1350 with no loads traded. Class IV futures are 17 cents higher on the November contract. Butter futures are unchanged to 1.825 cents lower. Dry whey futures are 0.25 to 1.35 cents lower. Cheese futures are 0.1 cents lower to 2.9 cents higher. Nonfat dry milk futures are 0.65 to 1.325 cents higher.

Thursday Morning Dairy Market Update - September Milk Production Report Today

OPENING CALLS:

Class III Milk Futures:	10 to 30 Lower
Class IV Milk Futures:	5 to 15 Lower
Butter Futures:	1 to 2 Lower

OUTSIDE MARKET OPENING CALLS:

Corn Futures:	1 to 2 Higher
Soybean Futures:	1 to 2 Higher
Soybean Meal Futures:	$1.00 to $1.70 Lower
Wheat Futures:	2 to 4 Lower

MILK:

The September Milk Production report will be released later Thursday. After seeing the USDA's dairy market outlook last week, the assumption is that milk production will be reduced from September's report. A small, expected reduction in an already huge amount of supply feels more like taking a pond's worth of water out of the ocean; however, with the demand the market has had recently, we've come to count on the ample availability of milk in the market. Another report to be released later Thursday will be NASS's monthly commercial slaughter data. For dairy, the market is watching the amount of cull cows going to slaughter. An increase could signal a reduction in milk supply. Overnight markets are trading 1 to 27 cents lower.

CHEESE:

Cheese has had an impressive run higher this month in both the spot market and the futures market. Wednesday's decline in cheddar blocks, while a large decline of 9.75 cents, is still well above last week's average price. Futures are currently trading steady to 1.6 cents lower. The Cold Storage report will be released Friday for a better look at current inventories.

BUTTER:

Butter has not yet traded on the overnight markets. Thursday's trade is expected to follow direction from the cash market. Butter was lower Wednesday following cheese and nonfat dry milk. Butter output has fallen from its peak in the first quarter of the year, despite the large amounts of cream available.

Wednesday Closing Dairy Market Update - November Advanced Class Prices Announced

GENERAL OVERVIEW:

The November Class I base price was $20.27/cwt, up $1.39 from October and $3.52 from one year ago. The Base Skim Milk Price for Class I was $16.03/cwt, an increase of $1.91 from October and $5.41 higher than November 2025.

MILK:

Class III futures fell 61 cents on the November contract Wednesday while Class IV fell 33 to 37 cents. Nonfat Dry Milk was down the limit of 4 cents across all contracts. The weakness in cash prices brought a lot of selling pressure across all products. Class III had a difficult time overcoming the weakness in Cheddar Cheese blocks in spot trade, taking back a big portion of the rally from early this week. Blocks were down 9.75 cents, Nonfat Dry Milk was down 5.25 cents, indicating that follow-through selling is possible tomorrow in the futures trade. The market is still dealing with high supplies of milk despite the recent futures rally, so fundamentally, we were due for a setback.

AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES:

3 Month:	$16.62
6 Month:	$16.91
9 Month:	$17.11
12 Month:	$17.29

CHEESE:

Cheddar Blocks falling 9.75 cents is a big move in one day, however it is still well above the weekly average from last week. Barrels did not trade Wednesday but most likely would be feeling the pressure as well. The Cold Storage report on Friday will give a better indication of the current supply of cheese. While the spot market has been hot as of late, cheese appears to be readily available.

BUTTER:

Butter was not excluded from the spot market sell off Wednesday, closing down 3 cents. Futures were a bit more forgiving than the price action seen on other dairy products. The market closed mixed with November up 0.5 cents while the January contract was down 0.45 cents. The advanced butterfat pricing factor was $1.3730 per pound on today's report, down sharply from $1.5024 reported in October.

OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY:

December corn closed up 1.25 cents per bushel at $4.6325, November soybeans closed down 3.00 cents at $12.4525 and December soybean meal closed down $.40 per ton at $348.30. December Chicago wheat closed down 15.00 cents at $6.2825.

December live cattle closed up $0.95 at $231.13. December crude oil is down .11 per barrel at $97.71. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 360 points at 52,856 and NASDAQ is up 278 points at 26,702.