MILK
Class III milk futures should have shown strength today based on the increase in cheese prices. Again, traders did not care as the overall attitude is bearish. The weakness of dry whey and butter kept sellers aggressive. The only gain in Class III was front-month December being up 5 cents. This contract is not influenced much by current cash as the price is mostly calculated by the trade. Both Class III and Class IV futures showed double-digit losses through much of next year. There are no Class III milk prices above $20.00 until August of next year. The Global Dairy Trade auction took place yesterday with the trade weighted average down 3.8 percent. There were 149 bidders with 28,724 metric tons sold at an average price of $3,493 per metric ton. Anhydrous milk fat declined 2.2 percent to $5,675 per metric ton or $2.57 per pound. Butter declined 2.6 percent to $4,602 per metric ton or $2.09 per pound. Cheddar cheese price declined 0.7 percent to $4,801 per metric ton or $2.18 per pound. Skim milk powder declined 4.8 percent to $2,965 per metric ton or $1.34 per pound. Whole milk powder declined 4.0 percent to $3,246 per metric ton or $1.47 per pound. Buttermilk powder and sweet whey powder were not offered. The January Class I price was announced at $22.41, down $0.17 from December.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $19.18 |
| 6 Month: | $19.05 |
| 9 Month: | $19.30 |
| 12 Month: | $19.53 |
CHEESE
Cheese buyers wanted to take advantage of lower prices but did not find much seller interest at higher prices. It was not a matter of having no cheese to sell but waiting to sell at higher prices. Cheese sales are showing weakness with retail and food service outlets already having sufficient supply on hand. This trend may continue until holiday demand is assessed and orders are placed for after the holidays.
BUTTER
Price has fallen 38 cents over the past three days. It would seem buyers might step up to purchase at the lower price but that may not be the case this time and through the end of the year. Consumers feared a shortage and stocked up leaving little need to purchase butter now and possibly for a period in the future. This is like the toilet paper shortage in 2020. USDA will release the November Cold Storage report tomorrow with butter inventory expected to see some gain compared to last year.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
March corn gained 10.25 cents closing at $6.6225. January soybeans gained 2.50 cents ending at $14.81 with January soybean meal up $3.60 per ton closing at $456.00. March wheat gained 17.25 cents ending at $7.6775. December live cattle gained $1.07 closing at $156.12. February crude oil gained $2.06 closing at $78.29 per barrel. The Dow jumped 527 points closing at 33,376 while the Nasdaq gained 162 points closing at 10,709.
