Monday Midday Dairy Market Summary - Higher Cash Trade

OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY:

CORN:	7 Lower
SOYBEANS:	10 Lower
SOYBEAN MEAL:	$0.39 Lower
LIVE CATTLE:	$1.375 Higher
DOW JONES:	15 Points Lower
NASDAQ:	330 Points Lower
CRUDE OIL:	$1.51 Higher

MIDDAY MARKET UPDATE:

The block cheese price increased 4.75 cents to close at $1.73 with 3 loads traded. The barrel cheese price increased 2 cents to close at $1.6400 with no loads traded. The dry whey price set is unchanged at the all-time high price of 89.5 cents. There were no loads traded. Class III futures are 7 to 41 cents higher. The butter price closed 2 cents higher at $1.3850 with 1 load traded. A nonfat dry milk increased 3.75 cents to close at $2.200 with 3 loads traded. Class IV futures are 40 cents to 69 cents higher in the deferred. contracts. Butter futures are 0.5 to 2.425 cents higher. Dry whey futures are unchanged. Cheese futures are 0.8 to 3.8 cents higher. Nonfat dry milk futures are 2.90 to 8 cents higher. 

Monday Morning Dairy Market Update - Will the Spot Market Excitement Continue?

OPENING CALLS:

Class III Milk Futures:	8 to 14 Higher
Class IV Milk Futures:	Mixed
Butter Futures:	1.5 to 2 Higher

OUTSIDE MARKET OPENING CALLS:

Corn Futures:	1 to 2 Lower
Soybean Futures:	1 to 2 Higher
Soybean Meal Futures:	$0.50 to $1.50 Higher
Wheat Futures:	1 to 4 Higher

MILK:

USDA released its Livestock, Dairy and Poultry Outlook last week. Milk production continues to show growth with no slowdown in sight. The slaughter of dairy cows has increased year over year but remains low when compared to the last three years. Imports were strong from the January to August time frame, up 15.2% higher than last year, totaling 5.9 billion pounds on a milk-fat basis. On a skim-solids basis, imports were 4.5 billion pounds, a reduction of 2.5% from 2025. Exports were up 27.4% on a milk-fat basis and 3.3% on a skim-solids basis. Cheese, butter, dry whey and lactose were all the biggest factors in the year-over-year increase while dry skim milk products and whey protein concentrates all declined due to high prices.

CHEESE:

Cheese saw some very large increases when looking at exports in Friday's report. American-type cheeses were 21.1 million pounds higher from January to August, or 10.1% higher year over year for exports, coming in at a total of 231.4 million pounds. Other types of cheese totaled 844.4 million pounds exported from January to August, an increase of 172.5 million pounds or 25.7% higher.

BUTTER:

Butter had one of the biggest year-over-year increases in export products sold. In 2025, the U.S. shipped 104.8 million pounds of butter internationally. In 2026, the amount of butter exported gained 58 million pounds, totaling 162.7 million pounds. That is an increase of 55.3% more butter exports year over year. Domestically, butter gained 3.2% more demand, totaling 1.5722 billion pounds.

Friday Closing Dairy Market Update - Week of Spot Excitement, Dairy Outlook

GENERAL OVERVIEW:

This week's spot market has been the main feature to watch as cheese rallies, Dry whey sets new all-time highs, and nonfat dry milk fails to make new highs. USDA released the October Dairy Outlook this afternoon with lower expectations of milk production from the September report.

MILK:

Class III milk futures climbed more than 34 cents on the October contract over the week. The November contract rallied $1.15 from last Friday's close to today's close. Class IV futures fell 9 cents this week on the October contract, while the November contract fell 32 cents from last week. The Dairy Outlook report was released this afternoon with a small drop in expectations of milk production from last month's report. The 2026 expectations were lowered by 0.3 billion pounds to 236.9 billion pounds. This is still an increase of 5.2 billion pounds over 2025's milk production of 231.7 billion pounds. For 2027, it is projected that the U.S. will produce a total of 238.4 billion pounds of milk, while an increase year over year, this is coming in 0.2 billion pounds than last's months projections.Milk produced per cow was the cause of the reduction, as USDA cut expectations for 2026 by 25 pounds, coming in at 24,475 annually in 2026, and cut 2027 projections by 20 pounds. The All-Milk price is unchanged at $19.90/cwt for 2026 and raised 65 cents to $20.45 in 2027. Class III prices were lowered by 40 cents for 2026 to $15.80 and down 20 cents to $16.90 for 2027. Class IV was projected at $18.90 for both years. That is a 35-cent increase for this year and a $1.35 increase for 2027.

AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES:

3 Month:	$16.59
6 Month:	$16.95
9 Month:	$17.15
12 Month:	$17.33

CHEESE:

For the week, the block cheese price increased by 29.25 cents with 17 loads traded. The weekly average price is $1.5395. The barrel cheese price increased by 16.75 cents with no loads traded. The weekly average price is $1.5095. The dry whey price increased by 3.5 cents with four loads traded. The weekly average price is 88.3 cents. The close today was the new highest record spot price at 89.50 cents.

BUTTER:

For the week, the butter price increased by 9.50 cents with 27 loads traded. The weekly average price is $1.3110. Grade A nonfat dry milk decreased 10.75 cents with 29 loads traded. The weekly average price is $2.2105. Butter futures increased 3.65 cents on the October contract this week, while the November contract increased 4.8 cents.

OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY:

December corn closed down 3.75 cents per bushel at $4.7425; November soybeans closed down 1.75 cents at $12.6125 and December soybean meal closed down $2.70 per ton at $357.10. December Chicago wheat closed down 9.50 cents at $6.6050.

December live cattle closed up $1.10 at $228.35. November crude oil is up 3.44 per barrel at $101.41. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 175 points at 52,002 and the NASDAQ is down 572 points at 26,140.