At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday the dairy markets were mostly lower, following decreases in federal order prices for Class I milk as well follow through selling and increased milk production forecasts set by the EU. Class III milk futures for December were unchanged at $15.44 Wednesday. January milk closed $0.13 lower at $13.80. February closed down $0.08 to $13.56. March was down $0.15 at $13.63.
Grade AA Butter closed down $0.0150 at $2.1950. Twenty-one carloads of butter were sold on a range of $2.1925 to $2.22. Barrels were down $0.08 to $1.40. Eleven carloads were sold ranging from $1.42 to $1.4450. 40-pound blocks closed $0.0150 lower at $1.4350. One trade was at $1.42.
For January, the USDA has set the base Class I milk price at $15.44 per hundredweight, down $1.44 from December, with the base Class I skim price at $6.98, down $1.32.
The USDA reports cash butter for the week ending December 16th averaged $2.22 per pounds, $0.01 lower than the previous week. 40 pound blocks of cheddar were pegged at $1.79, $0.0650 lower. 500 pound barrels averaged $1.63, a decrease of $0.03. Dry whey came out at $0.315, up $0.023. Nonfat dry milk averaged $0.727, up $0.003.
