MILK
Milk production continues to increase as the weather warms. Planting delays abound, which is causing concern for the grain markets. Planting will increase rapidly as the ground dries out and temperatures increase. Class I demand is good with schools in session. Demand is in good balance with supply. Milk continues to move to areas that need it for manufacturing. There remain some issues with hauling milk and products, which results in some delay, but that is being overcome, for the most part. Lack of employees at bottling and manufacturing plants remains an issue, sometimes resulting in the diverting of milk to other plants. Class III milk futures are carving out a wide sideways trading range. With the weakness of dry whey, it may be more difficult to reach back to the highs that have been established over the past month. Class III futures posted significant losses Wednesday with Class IV futures mixed. Gains were seen in closer months due to the increase of nonfat dry milk, while losses were seen in deferred months due to butter weakness.
Average Class III Prices
| 3 Month: | $24.30 |
| 6 Month: | $24.04 |
| 9 Month: | $23.65 |
| 12 Month: | $23.11 |
CHEESE
Cheese supply is balanced. Demand remains strong with a few plants indicating that they have some difficulty filling curd orders. It seems that much of this may be due to a lack of employees rather than a tight milk supply. The selling pressure on cheese is not expected to continue for any length of time, but neither are prices expected to move to new highs anytime soon.
BUTTER
Buyers see no need to be aggressive, as butter is available. Purchases are continuing to be made for later in the year at lower prices. This has reduced the concern over tightening supply as the year progresses. Retail demand has shown some sign of slowing, resulting in less robust orders. Foodservice demand is steady but may slow if inflation continues to push prices for goods and services higher.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
May corn jumped 12.25 cents, ending at $8.1550. May soybeans jumped 21.25 cents, ending at $17.2650, with May soybean meal up $6.20 per ton, closing at $451. April live cattle declined $1.50, ending at $138.50. June crude oil gained $0.32, closing at $102.02 per barrel. The Dow gained 62 points, closing at 33,302, while the NASDAQ declined 2 points, closing at 12,489.
