MILK:
Milk production in the top 24 states for December was down 6 million pounds from a year ago, which was basically unchanged on a percentage basis. USDA did not make a large revision to November's production, revising it higher by only 0.1%. Production per cow averaged 2,027 pounds, 8 pounds above December 2020. Cow numbers declined by 8,000 head from November and are 42,000 head less than a year earlier. Milk production in the U.S. was down 0.1% from December 2020, totaling 18.825 billion pounds. Production per cow increased 11 pounds above a year ago at 2,008 pounds. Cow numbers declined 7,000 head, totaling 9.375 million head. The rate of decline of cow numbers slowed from what has been taking place over the past four months. Production per cow is making up for much of the loss of cow numbers. Milk production for the last quarter of the year was down 0.1% from the same period a year ago. Milk production for the year was 1.4% higher than 2020.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES:
| 3 Month: | $20.77 |
| 6 Month: | $20.96 |
| 9 Month: | $20.90 |
| 12 Month: | $20.72 |
CHEESE:
The December Cold Storage report was rather bearish for cheese with inventory growth for the month. American cheese inventory increased 11.6 million pounds with inventory at the end of the year 6% higher than 2020. American cheese inventory increased six of the past 12 months with the increases very erratic throughout the year. Inventory generally declines during the second half of the year. This year, stocks increased from the previous month in July, August, September and December. Inventory remained higher than the previous year for 11 months of the year. Swiss cheese inventory increased 1.2 million pounds from November and closed the year 10% above 2020. Other cheese inventory increased 10.0 million pounds, totaling 576.8 million pounds, and basically unchanged from a year earlier. Total cheese inventory reached 1.445 billion pounds, up 22.8 million pounds from November and 3% higher than a year ago.
BUTTER:
December butter inventory declined 11.4 million pounds to a total of 199.0 million pounds. This was 27% below December 2020. Inventory declined steadily during the last half of the year with stocks ending the year slightly higher than December 2019. This should provide support to price unless buyers have sufficient supply for the time being.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY:
March corn closed 4.75 cents higher at $6.21. March soybeans declined 11.25 cents, ending at $14.03, with March soybean meal up $1.20 per ton, closing at $393.90. March wheat jumped 20.50 cents, closing at $8.0050. February live cattle fell $1.60, closing at $136.32. March crude oil declined $1.83, ending at $83.31 per barrel. The Dow made a huge reversal, closing 99 points higher at 34,365, while the NASDAQ also made a huge reversal, closing 86 points higher at 13,855.
