MILK
Milk futures closed mixed, but continued electronic trading after milk futures were settled showed further strength with July, August and September posting double-digit gains. It will be interesting to see if this carries through in overnight trading. It certainly would be welcomed to see a significant price retracement after the freefall the market has been experiencing. However, there is not much to support fundamentally at present. Continued strong export demand will go a long way in helping to move more product and keep inventory from building. Some cheese manufacturers have indicated they believe the current discounted milk of $4 to $6 under class that is available in the spot market might be here to stay for much of the summer due to the heavy supply of milk. Tuesday is the last day to trade June dairy futures and options with the federal order prices to be announced on Wednesday.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $16.93 |
| 6 Month: | $17.38 |
| 9 Month: | $17.48 |
| 12 Month: | $17.53 |
CHEESE
The inability of barrel cheese price to hold the gains during spot trading is a concern over price strength. Barrel has been in a tighter supply position for a period but has recently seen more becoming available to the market. This is not an indication of supply backing up in the market due to slower demand but the fact that production is strong, increasing supply being made available to the market. Manufacturers want to move product to the market as quickly as possible rather than hold onto and build inventory.
BUTTER
Price made a nice bounce Monday, but that may again be all it is. Price moves daily and business done according to orders is the desire to increase inventory for later demand. Cream supply continues to remain ample for manufacturing leaving production steady. It reported that retail sales are somewhat soft.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
July corn jumped 39 cents, closing at $6.7550. July soybeans gained 27.25 cents, ending at $13.57, with July soybean meal up $4.40 per ton, closing at $351.60. July wheat gained 9 cents, ending at $6.46. June live cattle declined $0.72, closing at $122.10. July crude oil fell $1.14, closing at $72.91 per barrel. The Dow lost 151 points, closing at 34,283, while the NASDAQ gained 140 points, closing at 14,501.
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