Friday Closing Dairy Market Update - Cheese Spot Volatility

GENERAL OVERVIEW:

The spot market for cheese blocks has driven the headlines this week. A volatile week with big gains and losses only days apart dictated the direction of both cheese and Class III futures.

MILK:

Class III futures settled 13 cents lower on Friday on the November contract at $17.58. That is down 12 cents week over week. Class IV futures were down 23 to 32 cents on Friday, to settle the November contract at $20.80, down 22 cents from last Friday. NDM had a rough day with the December and January contracts trading 4 cents lower, the daily limit. The November contract settled down 3.175 cents at $2.0580, 1.25 cents lower week over week.

AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES:

3 Month:	$17.18
6 Month:	$17.06
9 Month:	$17.18
12 Month:	$17.36

CHEESE:

For the week, blocks rose 4.50 cents with 19 loads traded. The weekly average price is $1.6230, up 4.10 cents from last week's average. Barrels declined 3.5 cents with no loads traded. The weekly average price is $1.6830, down 3.70 cents from last week. Dry whey ended the week 6 cents higher with 3 loads that traded, closing the week with a new all-time high of 91 cents. The weekly average price is 87.10 cents, an increase of 2.50 cents from last week. Cheese futures traded 0.9 cents lower to 0.3 cents higher. The November contract settled at $1.6610, mostly unchanged week over week from last Friday's settlement of $1.6660.

BUTTER:

For the week, butter declined 2 cents with 14 loads traded. The weekly average price is $1.2510, down 3.85 cents from the prior week. Grade A nonfat dry milk decreased by 14.75 cents this week, with 25 loads traded. The weekly average price is $2.0980, down 7.85 cents from last week's average. Butter futures settled unchanged on the November contract; however, the deferred months were 2 to 2.60 cents higher on the day. Friday's November settlement is $1.3150, down 0.975 cents from last Friday's settlement.

OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY:

December corn closed up 3.00 cents per bushel at $4.4550, January soybeans closed up 12.50 cents at $12.3150 and December soybean meal closed up $4.40 per ton at $329.80. December Chicago wheat closed up 9.00 cents at $5.9325.

December live cattle closed up $1.75 at $220.65. December crude oil is up .44 per barrel at $89.18. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 50 points at 52,347 and the NASDAQ is down 229 points at 25,136.

Fluid Milk and Cream - Western U.S. Report 46

California and the Southwest have more readily available milk supplies as contacts report unexpected downtime at some California facilities this week. 

Milk supplies remain tighter in the Northwest and Idaho. Spot milk remains available. As of this report, HPAI cases have been identified in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado. 

Class I and Class II processors continue to meet production needs and have expanded seasonal holiday product manufacturing. Cheese production and butter churns continue to run at full capacity. Cream supplies remain balanced, and spot loads are available. Contacts expect cream availability to loosen further over the next several weeks. Cream multiples held steady at the bottom of the range but declined at the top. Condensed skim availability increased in the West this week. Market sources attributed the additional availability to facility downtime and decreased interest from Asian buyers.

Friday Midday Dairy Market Summary - Record High Dry Whey Spot Price

OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY:

CORN:	3 Higher
SOYBEANS:	14 Higher
SOYBEAN MEAL:	$4.70 Higher
LIVE CATTLE:	$2.65 Higher
DOW JONES:	44 Points Lower
NASDAQ:	316 Points Lower
CRUDE OIL:	$0.23 Lower

MIDDAY MARKET UPDATE:

The block cheese price decreased by 2.5 cents to close at $1.6175 with one load traded. The barrel cheese price was unchanged at $1.6650 with no loads traded. Dry Whey increased by 2 cents to close at 91.0 cents with two loads traded. Class III futures are trading 13 cents lower to 16 cents higher. The butter price increased by 0.75 cents, closing at $1.24 with six loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk decreased 1.5 cents to close at $2.035 with nine loads traded. Class IV futures have not yet been traded Friday. Butter futures are 1 to 1.7 cents higher. Dry whey futures are mixed, trading 0.25 cents lower to 1.25 cents higher. Cheese futures are 0.8 cents lower to 0.9 cents higher. Nonfat dry milk futures are 0.535 to 2.975 cents lower.