MILK
It was a challenging day for getting any trading business accomplished in milk futures. May through July Class III futures had closer bids and offers with more volume. However, anything after that showed wide bids and offers with limited activity. Class IV futures were worse, as there were no trades all day with bids and offers wider apart than Class III. In fact, Class IV futures for June through November were settled with double-digit losses even though there was no trading activity. Futures were "marked to market" at significant losses anyway. Both Class III and Class IV futures are close together after a period of Class IV holding a substantial premium to Class III. Traders seem uncertain over the continued strength of underlying spot prices with the market may be moving into a sideways pattern for a period as the impact of other markets and demand is assessed. Class III futures were significantly higher early in reaction to lower cheese inventory on the March Cold Storage report. However, cheese buyers did not follow through on that optimism, which took away some of the steam in the market. Corn is 7% planted compared to 16% last year and a five-year average of 15%. Soybean progress shows 3% planted compared to 7% last year and a five-year average of 5%.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $24.61 |
| 6 Month: | $24.37 |
| 9 Month: | $24.01 |
| 12 Month: | $23.46 |
CHEESE
Steady cheese prices did not provide any direction for traders Monday. Overall cheese demand is strong with some plants having difficulty satisfying the orders that are coming in. Milk remains available for processing with the spot milk that is available holding a slight discount to cash. Buyers remain active on price dips with little concern that prices will trend lower anytime soon. There is a greater concern over the potential for higher prices as the year progresses.
BUTTER
Churning is active with cream remaining available. Increasing ice cream production is utilizing more cream, which is tightening supply to some extent and increasing prices. Retail sales are reported to be steady to slightly lower. Time of year and higher price is having an impact demand.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
May corn gained 7.25 cents, closing at $8.0025. May soybeans declined 12.50 cents, ending at $17.0350, with May soybean meal down $6.40 per ton, closing at $452.40. May wheat slipped 3.50 cents, closing at $10.62. April live cattle fell $3.35, closing at $139.10. June crude oil fell $3.53, ending at $98.54 per barrel. The Dow gained 238 points, ending at 34,049, while the NASDAQ gained 166 points, closing at 13,005.
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