MILK
Any optimism that may have developed in anticipation of this week did not translate into higher prices. Class III milk futures did not change much over the week. Class IV futures declined as there was little to provide solid support under the market. Traders' attitudes remain bearish as barrel price gained throughout the week but had little impact on futures prices. It will take a monumental change in both fundamentals and attitude to turn this market higher. Milk futures do not paint a very positive picture of demand, but we cannot say that prices are overdone to the downside. Most fundamentals do not suggest that is the case. However, export sales remain a bright spot with January exports on a total milk solids basis up 16% over January 2022 totaling 181,676 metric tons. The value of exports during the month was 21% higher than a year ago at $710.9 million. The concern is that even with positive exports, milk prices continue to decline as supplies are plentiful.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $17.75 |
| 6 Month: | $18.29 |
| 9 Month: | $18.73 |
| 12 Month: | $18.81 |
CHEESE
It was a weird week for cheese prices. Blocks fell 17 cents with four loads traded. Barrels jumped 17.50 cents with 50 loads traded. Dry whey slipped 0.25 cent with three loads traded. The divergence between blocks and barrels moved the spread to just a penny after remaining very wide for an extended period of time. The volume of loads traded for barrels was large and unusual over the period of one week. January cheese exports were 16% higher than January 2020 totaling 30,015 metric tons. Dry whey exports were 12% higher than a year earlier totaling 44,516 metric tons. Whey exports were up 12% with whey protein concentrate exports up 14% from January 2022.
BUTTER
For the week, butter declined 1.25 cents with three loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk remained unchanged with 11 loads traded. Butterfat exports declined 13% from January 2022 totaling 4,269 metric tons. This is the second consecutive month exports have been below a year earlier. Skim milk powder/nonfat dry milk exports totaled 68,211 metric tons, up 15%. Whole milk powder exports declined 4.4% totaling 1,116 metric tons. Lactose exports jumped 30% totaling 38, 232 metric tons.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
March corn gained 5.75 cents closing at $6.2425. March soybean declined 7 cents ending at $15.13 with March soybean meal down $0.10 closing at $498.80 per ton. March wheat gained 13.245 cents ending at $6.6675. April live cattle declined $0.52 closing at $164.27. April crude oil gained $0.96 closing at $76.68 per barrel. The Dow lost 345 points closing at 31,910 while the Nasdaq lost 199 points closing at 11,139.
