In Class III trade at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, milk futures were lower with most months down sharply, pressured by follow through selling and the mostly lower cash business. December was down $.02 at $17.31, January was $.37 lower at $16.62, February was down $.30 at $16.90, and March was down $.21 at $17.20.
Cash cheese was sharply lower. Blocks were down $.085 at $1.70. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $1.70. Barrels were $.0875 lower at $1.5675. There was one trade at $1.65. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $1.5675.
Butter was down $.015 at $2.205. There were five loads sold, three at $2.20, one at $2.21, and one at $2.205. The last unfilled bid was on two loads at $2.20.
Nonfat dry milk was unchanged at $1.02. The last unfilled bid was on one load at $.97. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $1.02.
Cooperatives Working Together announced the acceptance of 10 requests for export assistance. The requests cover 228,178 pounds of Cheddar cheese and 1.323 million pounds of butter. The products are headed to Asia, Central America, the Middle East, and North Africa with delivery slated for December of this year through March of next year.
The USDA has set the base Class I milk price for January 2017 at $17.45 per hundredweight, up $.57 from December 2016. The base skim price is set at $9.61, down $.23.
For the week ending December 17th, butter averaged $2.10 per pound, down $.008 on the week. 40 pound blocks of cheddar came out at $1.83, $.053 lower. 500 pound barrels averaged $1.69, a decline of $.042. Dry whey was pegged at $.403, up $.01. Nonfat dry milk averaged $.967, $.011 higher.
California’s Department of Food and Agriculture reports the state’s average nonfat dry milk price for the week ending December 16th was $.9596 per pound, up $.0161 on the week. Sales of 4,466,100 pounds were down 160,647.
Source: Brownfield Ag News
