MILK
It ended up not being a very good week for milk futures. Only the January Class III contract closed higher this week with a gain of only a penny. All other contracts lost ground closing lower indicating the bearishness prevalent in the market. Spot cheese prices gained during the week but had little influence on traders. Now that weakness set in at the week and year, traders will be cautious over price potential and buyers of cheese may hold back. Milk output has not changed much as the impact of the cold weather and storm is behind. USDA released the November Agricultural Prices report. The average corn price was $6.49 per bushel, a decline of one cent from October. The premium/supreme hay price averaged $331.00 per ton, down $17.00 per ton from the previous month. The All-milk price averaged $25.60, down $0.30 from October. The Farm Service Agency has not yet released the average soybean meal price for the month. This leaves us unable to provide the income of feed price for the month and for the Dairy Margin Coverage program. Other prices to make note of on the report is the alfalfa hay price for the month was $267.00, down $14.00 per ton and the average soybean price of $14.00, an increase of $0.50 from October.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $19.53 |
| 6 Month: | $19.10 |
| 9 Month: | $19.28 |
| 12 Month: | $19.46 |
CHEESE
For the week, blocks increased 1.25 cents with nine loads traded. Barrels increased 6.25 cents with eight loads traded. Dry whey gained 3 cents with five loads traded. Buyers may have reached a threshold with the weakness in price today indicating buyers' needs have been satisfied for the time being. They may wait and see whether sellers will be more aggressive next week as well as how cheese demand was during the holidays.
BUTTER
For the week, butter declined 1.50 cents with five loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk increased 0.50 cents with 13 loads traded. Futures moved similar to milk with prices ending lower than a week ago. Cash butter remained steady all week with buyers and sellers comfortable at the current price level.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
March corn declined a penny closing at $6.7850. January soybean gained 10.50 cents closing at $15.1925 with January soybean meal up $14.40 per ton closing at $478.50. March wheat gained 18 cents closing at $7.92. February live cattle declined $0.95 ending at $157.90. February crude oil gained $1.86 closing at $80.26 per barrel. The Dow closed 74 points lower at 33,147 while the Nasdaq slipped 12 points closing at 10,466.
