MILK
The strength of Class III futures was welcomed Friday and was about time given the increase in cash prices this week. Traders had been holding back even though cheese prices increased but that came to an end on Thursday and Friday with Class III futures making a nice increase.
Traders finally overcame their cautiousness and bought into the market with others liquidating their short positions. It will be interesting to see whether this will hold or if underlying cheese prices will follow the pattern in place for quite some time. Initially, it would appear the strong gain in cheese prices was due to regular business being done. A sustained move higher will be needed to increase the buying interest by traders and push prices significantly higher for a longer period.
There remains much uncertainty over the impact of HPAI on the dairy industry. If you have not yet signed up for the Dairy Margin Coverage program this year, the deadline for enrollment is April 29.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $16.34 |
| 6 Month: | $17.17 |
| 9 Month: | $17.51 |
| 12 Month: | $17.60 |
CHEESE
For the week, blocks increased by 9.75 cents with 42 loads traded. Barrels increased by 10.25 cents with 29 loads traded. Dry whey decreased by 1.25 cents with four loads traded. American cheese production in February was 1.2% below February 2023, totaling 438 million pounds even having one extra day for production this year. Italian-type cheese production totaled 479 million pounds, a gain of 4.4% over a year ago. Total cheese production reached 1.13 billion pounds, up 3% from a year ago. This makes sense due to an extra day of production. Dry whey output totaled 72.1 million pounds.
BUTTER
For the week, butter gained 9.75 cents with 33 loads traded. Grade A nonfat dry milk gained 1.25 cents with 12 loads traded. The February butter output totaled 198 million pounds, 5.6% above February. Nonfat dry milk production totaled 147 million pounds, down 19.3% from a year ago even though there was one more day of production than last year. Skim milk power output totaled 36.2 million pounds, down 2.6%. Regular hard ice cream production totaled 53.6 million gallons, down 8.3%.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
May corn closed down 1 cent per bushel at $4.3425, May soybeans closed up 5 cents at $11.8500 and May soybean meal closed down $.40 per ton at $333.10. May Chicago wheat closed up 11 cents at $5.6725. June live cattle closed down $3.80 at $172.05. May crude oil is up $0.14 per barrel at $86.73. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 307 points at 38,904 with the NASDAQ up 199 points at 16,249.
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