At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Wednesday, milk futures and cash dairy prices were mixed. Near-term milk futures were higher, but lower in the long term. At the close, March settled just 4 cents higher to $15.31 per cwt. despite being 20 cents higher earlier on. April closed 14 cents higher at $15.17 cents and May was up 5 cents. The March contract has now risen 90 cents since February 19th. Beyond May the market wasn’t buying the move higher. June through December lost 2-6 cents per cwt. March-June settled Wednesday at $15.37 cents per cwt. The second half ended at $16.30. Class IV markets had similar results. April through September ranged from 4 cents lower to 5 cents higher. October and November added 10 and 11 cents respectively and December fell 3. March-June average for Class IV closed Wednesday at $16.13 and the second half settled at $16.78 per cwt. Spot products were active in the dry whey and Grade A nonfat dry milk markets.
Dry whey was up $.0125 at $.36 cents per pound. Eleven sales were recorded from $.3550 to $.36. Forty-pound blocks were unchanged at $1.61 per pound. No sales were recorded. Barrels were unchanged at $1.41 per pound. No sales were recorded. Grade AA Butter was down $.0050 to $2.26 per pound. Three sales were recorded at $2.25 and $2.26. Nonfat dry milk was up $.0050 to $.99 per pound. Ten sales were recorded from $.9825 to $.9925.
