MILK
Class III milk futures made a nice comeback from earlier losses today. Futures were slow to shed the negative attitude after blocks remained steady and barrels gained. Later contracts did not respond due to very limited trading activity. Class IV futures remained under pressure. Fluid milk sales in July declined 5.0% from the previous year. Whole milk declined 1.3%; flavored whole milk fell 19.3%; reduced fat milk declined 5.0%; low fat milk fell 12.1%; fat-free skim milk fell 12.2%; flavored fat-reduced milk fell 12.8%; buttermilk declined 4.7% with other fluid milk products down 1.4%. Total conventional milk products declined 5.4%. Organic milk sales increased 0.3% from a year earlier. Organic whole milk increased 5.6%; organic flavored whole milk fell 22.3%; organic reduce fat milk declined 3.6%; organic low-fat milk declined 6.9%; organic fat-free skim milk declined 8.9%; organic flavored fat-reduce milk sales jumped 11.8%. The trend of fluid milk consumption continues to decline. USDA will release the August Milk Production report on Monday.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $20.92 |
| 6 Month: | $21.05 |
| 9 Month: | $20.97 |
| 12 Month: | $20.88 |
CHEESE
For the week, blocks jumped 14.25 cents with three loads traded. Barrels jumped 15.75 cents with nine loads traded. Dry whey price gained 0.25 cents with three loads traded. What is interesting is Class III futures for November and later contracts closed lower for the week. Only October retained a gain. With the strength of underlying cash, futures should have posted strong gains this week.
BUTTER
For the week, butter declined 3.75 cents with 14 loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk slipped 0.50 cents with 25 loads traded. After a record high early in the week, butter prices declined for three consecutive days as buyers pulled back. High price may be impacting demand resulting in buyers being less aggressive. Butter futures hold a discount to cash as traders anticipate lower prices through the end of the year.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
December corn declined 0.25 cents closing at $6.7725. November soybeans declined 3.0 cents ending at $14.4850 with October soybean meal down $4.90 per ton closing at $429.60. December wheat jumped 14.75 cents closing at $8.5975. October live cattle slipped $0.12 closing at $145.50. October crude oil gained $0.01 closing at $85.11 per barrel. The DOW is down 113 points at the time of this writing at 30,849 with the NASDAQ down 119 at 11,432.
