On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange milk futures started the week mostly higher in the face of bearish trade news. Then a rollercoaster day started Monday following the announcement from China that they would be halting all imports of U.S. ag products as a response to the most recently announced U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods. Grains, dairy, and livestock markets fell sharply overnight, but rebounded mid-morning as buyers returned to the market.
Class III milk started the day trading lower with most of the markets, falling as much as 14 cents in August, but turned during the CME spot market. Finishing the day with August 15 cents higher to $17.44 per cwt. September gained 2 cents to $17.81 and we see the July – December 2019 average at $17.53 per cwt. Early 2020 saw slight gains of 1-2 cents with and average at $16.63 per cwt.
For cash dairy, dry whey was unchanged at $0.34. Blocks up $0.04 at $1.86. Five trades were made, ranging from $1.82 to $1.86. Barrels down $0.0025 at $1.69. Two trades were made at that price. Butter closed $0.0275 higher at $2.3475. 12 trades were made, ranging from $2.31 to $2.3525. Nonfat dry milk down $0.0025 at $1.0175. Four trades, ranging from $1.0150 to $1.02.
Grain markets were down overnight but rebounded. December corn gained strength into the close to finish 5 ¼ cents higher to $4.14 ¾ per bushel. November soybeans only gained a quarter of a cent to $8.68 ¾ and August soybean meal gained $2.50 to $294.90 per ton.
