Block cheese price increased 2 cents, closing at $1.6350 with 12 loads traded. Barrel cheese price gained 2.25 cents, closing at $1.4925 with 4 loads traded. Buyers are aggressively looking for cheese to fill orders or likely to rebuild aging programs at the lowest possible price. This makes sense as the uncertainty of demand resulting from food programs as a part of the stimulus bill makes buyers interested in purchases to rebuild inventory that was depleted rather than waiting to rebuild aging programs during a historically slower demand period over the next few months. The increase had little impact on Class III futures with contracts ranging from 15 cents lower to 21 cents higher. January shows the only loss while February shows the greatest gain. Trading activity is light. Tuesday is the last day to trade December dairy futures and options with the Federal Order prices announced Wednesday. Butter price remained unchanged at $1.4925 with no loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk price declined 0.75 cent, closing at $1.1350 with 10 loads traded. Dry whey price remained unchanged at 46.75 cents with no loads traded. Class IV futures have not yet traded. Butter futures are 2.22 cents lower to 1.47 cents higher. Dry whey futures are 0.05 cent lower to 0.08 cent higher.
