MILK
Class III Milk futures settled .30 cents lower, while Class IV futures saw small gains in the November and December contracts. With the holiday season inching closer and milk and butter demand not pushing prices higher, we have some concerned about future demand. The answer may lie outside of the United States as recent reports suggest an ongoing issue with production in declining dairy farms across Australia with the lowest milk production in decades reported in September. This could make way for higher US demand on the world market in products like dry milk products and butter.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $17.78 |
| 6 Month: | $18.06 |
| 9 Month: | $18.14 |
| 12 Month: | $18.20 |
CHEESE
The market is still digesting yesterday's Cold Storage report increasing stocks. Cash settled cheese off 3.8 cents in while there is a lack of interest in Block and Barrel loads this afternoon. Buyers are in no hurry while sellers have plenty of supply.
BUTTER
Butter was 7.50 cents higher with October futures settling at 307.50. Butter only had one load traded today leaving two unfilled bids, up 14 cents closing at $3.18 only 8.75 cents away from the record from last October. With such large declines in production from July, it is easy to see why prices have rallied so much.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
December corn closed down 1.5 cents per bushel at $4.7975 still stuck in this tight trading range, November soybeans closed 5 cents higher at $13.0275 and December soybean meal closed up $2.9 per ton at $392.700. December Chicago wheat closed unchanged at $5.890. October live cattle closed down $2.175 at $184.800. November crude oil is up $0.86 per barrel at $90.53. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 403 points at 33,870 with the NASDAQ down 220 points at 13,051.
