MILK
Class III futures closed lower despite the gains in cheese and dry whey prices. It was more surprising that futures did not gain support with the gains in all categories in the spot market. Traders thought the market had been overdone upside and allowed the market to correct. If spot prices increase next week, futures will likely jump. Class IV futures were mixed holding better than Class III. The September Class III contract closed higher as it adjusted to the weekly AMS prices released yesterday and because the selling pressure on Thursday was overdone on the contract. It will be interesting to see what takes place next week. If underlying spot prices increase, milk futures will be pushed higher. The daily cash price calculation showed the Class III price based on today's spot prices at $23.68 compared to the Class IV price of $23.02. The strength of cheese has been greater than butter recently.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES
| 3 Month: | $22.61 |
| 6 Month: | $21.49 |
| 9 Month: | $20.68 |
| 12 Month: | $20.30 |
CHEESE
For the week, blocks increased 6 cents with seven loads traded. Barrels increased by 1.50 cents with five loads traded. Dry whey increased by 2.75 cents with five loads traded. American-type cheese production in July totaled 474 million pounds, down 1.6% from July 2023. Italian-type cheese production totaled 495 million pounds, up 2.4% from a year ago. Total cheese output reached 1.9 billion pounds, up 1.9% from July 2023. Dry whey production totaled 67.7 million pounds, down 24.2% from a year earlier. Lactose production increased 1.1% totaling 95.3 million pounds. Whey protein concentrate production totaled 40.1 million pounds, down 6.2%.
BUTTER
Butter production in July totaled 162 million pounds, up 2.2% from July 2023. Nonfat dry milk production totaled 122 million pounds, down 8.6%. Skim milk powder 62.4 million pounds, down 13.8%. Regular ice cream production totaled 64.9 million gallons.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY
December corn closed down 4.50 cents per bushel at $4.0625, November soybeans closed down 18.50 cents at $10.0500 and December soybean meal closed down $2.10 per ton at $324.40. December Chicago wheat closed down 7.75 cents at $5.6700. October live cattle closed down $2.08 at $175.18. October crude oil is down $1.48 per barrel at $67.67. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 410 points at 40,345 with the NASDAQ down 437 points at 16,691.
