Cash cheese barrels slipped a quarter-cent on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Thursday, blocks held steady for the 12th session while butter increased another two cents. Class III futures with some nice increases in fact the June ’15 through January ’16 contracts are all $17-or-better.
U.S. milk production continues to nudge higher in the Midwest, Northeast and South and Class I demand is slowing as the pipelines get ready for schools to close for the summer. Milk production in Florida is strong, the Sunshine State exported 100 loads this week.
California milk production has been slipping but New Mexico’s production has stepped-up.
HighGround Dairy says cheddar cheese production in the March Dairy Product Production report from USDA this week was “underwhelming”. The 1.3 million-pound increase over March of 2014 was the smallest year-over-year increase in nine months. Mozzarella production was also below expectations and total cheese production had its lowest growth since last August.
Butter production was below year-ago levels for the third consecutive month although HighGround notes butter exports year-to-date are down more than 45 million pounds and butter imports are up 14 million pounds.
Dry whey production has shown sharp increases for three consecutive months while nonfat dry milk/skim milk powder stocks are at all-time-highs.
By Bob Meyer
Source: Brownfield Ag News for America