OVERVIEW:
While cash trade brought slightly lower prices for butter, futures climbed a bit higher in the afternoon hours. Cash was rough on cheese barrels and blocks, but it helped push some buying activity, trading 10 loads midday.
MILK:
Class III futures are 4 to 36 cents lower, struggling to get bulls excited when you compare the 2024 production data to 2025 despite the lower production from the previous report. Supply is still ample, but cow comfort may struggle with the cold to hot temperature swings. Class IV had very limited trading, but the December contract had 0.5 gain this afternoon.
AVERAGE CLASS III PRICES:
| 3 Month: | $16.89 |
| 6 Month: | $16.79 |
| 9 Month: | $16.94 |
| 12 Month: | $17.13 |
CHEESE:
Cheese barrels fell 2.25 cents in the cash market earlier today, while blocks fell 3.75 cents. Ten loads did trade with the reduced prices, showing there is interest if the prices fall far enough. Futures also did not fare well this afternoon, settling down 0.6 cents to 4 cents lower.
BUTTER:
Not surprisingly, butter had a small pullback in the cash market, falling 1 cent after yesterday's 3.5-cent rally. Yesterday afternoon, the futures market did not seem as convinced to rally as the cash market did, so a small pullback was expected. What was unexpected was the late afternoon strength butter futures showed today, trading 0.25 to 1.35 cents higher despite cash being lower.
OUTSIDE MARKETS SUMMARY:
December corn closed up 2.25 cents per bushel at $4.3200, January soybeans closed down 2.75 cents at $11.2725 and December soybean meal closed down $3.10 per ton at $316.90. December Chicago wheat closed up .25 cent at $5.3600. December live cattle closed down $1.35 at $227.20. December crude oil is up .88 per barrel at $61.01. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 559 points at 47,927 and the NASDAQ is down 58 points at 23,468.
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