MILK
Milk production in the West seems to have reached a plateau with some indicating production has slipped back a bit. Even though demand is mostly steady, spot milk is moving at a discount to cash in the region. Butter manufacturers report cream is available but demand for butter is softening. Plants in the Central region of the country are taking advantage of lower spot milk prices keeping their plants running near capacity. Dairy export growth has been phenomenal this year with the value of dairy exports in October reaching $818.7 million. The total value of exports so far this year has reached $808.9 billion, up 25% from the same time last year. The current projection is for export growth next year of 4.0%. Milk production in Europe is improving and Latin America may see a reduced need to import cheese due to some other cheeses being less expensive within the country. This may impact the growth of exports as Europe may provide some competition and demand may be reduced in Latin America. However, any growth certainly will be welcomed.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $19.60 |
| 6 Month: | $19.63 |
| 9 Month: | $19.84 |
| 12 Month: | $20.01 |
CHEESE
Overall cheese demand is holding well as retailers are ordering cheese to ensure they have sufficient on hand for the holiday season. Some retail outlets have indicated they as seeing some slowing as higher prices have reduced demand and consumers have already purchased some ahead. This should keep some support under the market as buyers will come to the spot market when they need extra loads to fill in for orders. Cheese exports to Japan increased 39% in October compared to October 2021. Exports to the Middle East/North Africa regions increased 67% while exports to Mexico gained 12%.
BUTTER
Price has been holding well for a period but that ended today as buyers were nowhere to be found except at lower prices. This created the void under the market and the large decline today of 20.25 cents. After this decline, it may be difficult for price to rebound anytime soon. It was interesting to see the first load of butter trading at $2.87, down 1.75 cents, and then no further trading until the price fell 15 cents further to $2.72. Price is 7.50 cents above the low reached the last time the market fell dramatically.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
December corn gained 4.25 cents closing at $6.32. January soybeans gained 14.25 cents closing at $14.8625 with December soybean meal increasing $7.10 per ton closing at $469.30. December wheat declined 2.75 cents closing at $7.2425. December live cattle gained $0.50 ending at $152.45. January crude oil declined $0.55 ending at $71.46 per barrel. The Dow is up 182 points at 33,780 at the time of this writing. The Nasdaq is up 123 points at 11,082.
