On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange Milk futures closed higher Thursday ahead of a neutral to bearish dairy product production report. Class III milk gained in most months. April was up 14 cents to push back above that $15 mark and finish the day at $15.09. March was up 4 to finish at $14.95/cwt. May 14 cents higher at $15.33. June up 13 cents at $15.64. July through November contracts were three to 11 cents higher.
Thursday’s market had an upward trend driven by the strength in Cheddar blocks and Barrels. Dry whey down $0.01 at $0.3225. Seven trades were made ranging from $0.3225 to $0.33. Blocks up $0.03 at $1.56. Three trades were made ranging from $1.54 to $1.56. Barrels up $0.0625 at $1.4875. Five trades were made ranging from $1.42.50 to $1.4850. Butter up $0.0050 at $2.2850. Three trades were made ranging from $2.28 to $2.2850. Nonfat dry milk down $0.0025 at $0.9625. One trade was made at that price.
USDA released the January Dairy Products report Thursday. Most notable was the 190 million lbs of Butter produced. This is up 4.2% from January 2018 and is 10.4% above December 2018’s large production. Total cheese in January hit 1.1 billion pounds. Up 4/10 of a per cent above January 2018 productions and 7/10 above December’s production. NonFat Dry Milk was up 7.7 % from last year, however, Skim milk powder production fell 33.5% from January 2018. Dry Whey production was down 10.1 % from a year ago at 81.2 million pounds. Lactose was up 10.9% from January 2018 production.
