On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange milk futures turned mostly higher Tuesday supported by strong global trade. Global dairy event 248 this morning saw an overall gain of 1.7% from the last event 2 weeks prior. Cheese saw nice gains of 2.5% to a U.S. price equivalent of $1.68, butter continued to see values slide 1.3%, as did anhydrous milk fat, falling 1.5%. The remaining markets showed gains. Lactose up 1.3%, rennet casein up 5.6%, skim milk powder was up 3.3% and whole milk powder saw gains 2.2%.
Class III milk saw November up 1 to $20.32, December fell 8 to $18.39, and Jan – March gained 5-11 to average at $17.52. Class IV saw gains of 13 cents in December and January to finish at $17.11 and $17.38 per cwt.
The U.S. CME spot market took a softer turn Tuesday. Dry whey unchanged at $0.3325. Blocks down $0.03 at $1.8375. Three trades were made at $1.8375 and $1.84. Barrels down $0.0050 at $2.15. One trade was made at that price. Butter down $0.01 at $2.0650. Three trades were made ranging from $2.05 to $2.0725. Nonfat dry milk up $0.0175 at $1.2350. Five trades were made ranging from $1.23 to $1.2350.
The milk production report was released by the USDA. U.S. Milk production grew 1.3% in October from the same month in 2018 to 18.1 billion lbs. They adjusted the cow herd report from September 7,000 head higher and showed an increase of 5,000 head of cattle from September to October. This is an expansion of the herd, yet we are still 40,000 cows lighter than last year.
