MILK:
The May milk futures are not going to move much anymore as the trade basically has it priced. Price adjustments will be made mostly as the weekly AMS prices are released on Wednesdays. The June price has now fallen closely in line with May leaving little premium in the market for the next month. There seems to be no bottom in the market. Sellers of cheese continue to offer product to the market without hesitancy. Schools will be closing over the next few weeks which will make more milk available for manufacturing. This may put more pressure on spot milk prices and may result in the possibility of milk dumping. It would be nice to see demand increase due to lower prices, but those lower prices are not being reflected at the retail level. According to the City Average Retail Prices report for the month of April, the price for a gallon of whole milk was $0.03 higher than a year ago at $4.04 per gallon. The average price for natural cheese was $0.28 per pound higher than a year ago at $5.94 per pound. The average price for processed cheese was $4.76 per pound, up $0.61 per pound from April 2022. A year ago, we had record milk prices. The cost of labor, trucking, fuel, etc, has increased the cost of getting it processed and to the stores which has driven up retail prices. Thus, low farm prices are not stimulating demand and are not curing low prices.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES:
| 3 Month: | $16.65 |
| 6 Month: | $17.65 |
| 9 Month: | $18.05 |
| 12 Month: | $18.14 |
CHEESE:
There is no bottom in cheese prices. Even though buyers were a little more aggressive in barrels during spot trading, selling pressure moved price back down again. Lower bids are always met with lower offers. This may even get worse as the spring and summer progress and more milk is available for cheese production. Sellers have abundant cheese supplies and desire to move it to the market as quickly as possible.
BUTTER:
Price has again moved to the top end of the trading range but may hold there for a time. Traders have little to get excited about in the butter market. Buyers and sellers are comfortable at the current price level. Fundamentals have not changed much since the beginning of the year.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY:
July corn closed up 6.25 cents per bushel at $5.9250, July soybeans closed up 10.75 cents at $14.0075 and July soybean meal closed down $2.00 per ton at $430.90. July Chicago wheat closed up 25.75 cents at $6.6075. June live cattle closed down $0.08 at $164.33. June crude oil is up $1.07 per barrel at $71.11. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 48 points at 33,349 with the NASDAQ is up 80 points at 12,365.
