Tuesday Midday Dairy Market Summary - Tightening Dairy Supplies

OPENING CALLS:

Class III Milk Futures:	2 to 10 Higher
Class IV Milk Futures:	Mixed
Butter Futures:	Mixed

OUTSIDE MARKET OPENING CALLS:

Corn Futures:	1 to 2 Lower
Soybean Futures:	4 to 7 Higher
Soybean Meal Futures:	$1.40 to $1.60 Higher
Wheat Futures:	1 to 2 Lower

MILK:

Fluid milk is available in all regions. The Central region has recently seen distribution-caused tightness for cheese production as much of the milk supply went toward bottling efforts while the market gauges school demand with the new initiative to add whole milk to school menus. High transportation costs have also added to the difficulties of moving products to lower supply areas. On the positive side, the Central region has had great weather to improve cow comfort and give a recent boost to milk production. Overnight trade is quiet heading into Tuesday, with Class III trading 2 to 9 cents higher.

CHEESE:

Cheese continues to see strong demand for mozzarella. Cheddar supply will be temporarily shorter as production has had some issues with downtime and quality issues. Holiday purchasing has begun and can be attributed to the strength seen in the spot market early last week. Export demand for cheese is especially strong in the West. However, weaker domestic food service demand is weighing on cheese prices.

BUTTER:

Butter is waiting for the seasonal buying to kick in. However, supplies are adequate despite slightly lower inventories as reported Friday, Oct. 23, in the Cold Storage report. Cream is available across all regions and butter production is steady. Demand from Mexico is taking some of the cream supply, but there is plenty to go around. 

Monday Closing Dairy Market Update - Markets Mostly Lower to Start the Week

GENERAL OVERVIEW:

Monday has been a day of decline in most of the dairy markets. Cheese futures, Class III and Dry Whey futures all had small gains this afternoon on the November contract, but overall prices were lower across the board. Milk production is steady currently; stocks are slightly down but supply is available for most dairy products.

MILK:

Class III futures were mixed this afternoon with the November contract trading up 9 cents and the deferred contracts trading as much as 25 cents lower. Fluid milk supplies are steady to stronger this week with the optimal weather conditions for cow comfort in many parts across the country, especially in the Midwest. Milk supplies are the tightest in the Southwest but improving. The Central region is seeing the biggest bottlenecks with fluid milk as demand from bottling has reduced the amount of milk available for cheese production. For the weekly grocery store activity, advertisements increased 22% for conventional dairy and organic increased 23% from last week. Cheese remains at the top for ad promotions.

AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES:

3 Month:	$16.60
6 Month:	$16.66
9 Month:	$16.83
12 Month:	$17.04

CHEESE:

Cheese futures were mixed this afternoon with November up 0.9 cents and the deferred contracts down as much as 1.8 cents. Cheese production is steady across the country with plenty of milk available. Mozzarella demand remains strong as we saw last week while Cheddar production is experiencing downtime and quality issues yet there is still plenty of product available. In the East, cheese production and demand are stable with retail promotions and advertisements more frequent than previous year's levels. The Central region is struggling with distribution issues and fluid milk availability issues. The West is seeing a strong demand for exports and has plenty of milk and cream available to maintain production.

BUTTER:

Butter traded lower this afternoon, finishing the day with trade down 0.25 to 2 cents. Butter demand is stronger domestically over the last week. Requests from retailers have been picking up in the West. The East and Central regions have been reporting steady demand. Cream supplies are somewhat tighter in parts of the country yet manufacturers are able to meet their needs. Mexico is still in demand of spot cream. Bulk butter overages range from 2 cents below to 5 cents above market across all regions.

OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY:

December corn closed down 1.00 cent per bushel at $4.5500, November soybeans closed down 15.25 cents at $12.4125 and December soybean meal closed down $5.90 per ton at $340.20. December Chicago wheat closed down 9.00 cents at $6.1600.

December live cattle closed up $0.08 at $231.20. December crude oil is down 1.51 per barrel at $101.76. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 146 points at 52,361 and the NASDAQ is up 214 points at 26,169

Monday Midday Dairy Market Summary - Butter, Cheese and NDM Lower

OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY:

CORN:	4 Lower
SOYBEANS:	5 Higher
SOYBEAN MEAL:	$0.10 Lower
LIVE CATTLE:	$0.225 Higher
DOW JONES:	546 Points Lower
NASDAQ:	17 Points Higher
CRUDE OIL:	$3.40 Higher

MIDDAY MARKET UPDATE:

The block cheese price decreased 0.5 cents to close at $1.7300 with 3 loads 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 20 cents lower to 14 cents higher. The butter price decreased by 4 cents, closing at $1.3000 with 7 loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk decreased 3.5 cents to close at $2.0600 with 2 loads traded. Class IV futures have not yet been traded today. Butter futures are 0.25 to 2.4 cents lower. Dry whey futures are still 0.5 cents higher on the November contract but have not traded over the last hour. Cheese futures are 0.9 cents higher to 1.7 cents lower. Nonfat dry milk futures are 0.5 to 2.15 cents lower.