In Class III trade at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, milk futures were down modestly on profit taking after a couple of days of solid gains. August was $.01 lower at $16.95, September was down $.03 at $17.88, October was $.07 lower at $17.58, and November was down $.09 at $17.07.
Over in the spot market, cash cheese was unchanged. Blocks held at $1.865 with two loads sold. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $1.875. Barrels were steady at $1.865. The last unfilled bid was on one load at $1.855. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $1.875.
Butter was down $.01 at $2.19. There were four trades, one at $2.18 and three at $2.19. The last unfilled bid was on one load at $2.185. The last uncovered offer was for two loads at $2.20.
Nonfat dry milk was $.0075 lower at $.8575. There were two trades, one at $.85 and one at $.8575. The last uncovered offer was for three loads at $.85.
The USDA reports butter production is slowing down across the U.S., because of a reduction in the available supply of milk. Lower cream availability has also led to reduced churning rates. Still, some processors are able to meet needs with spot loads of cream.
Cheese production is also declining because of a lack of available milk, except for the Western region, which has a Domestic demand is called strong and inventories reportedly vary, depending on the type of cheese.
Because of summer weather, fluid milk production is down in most of the major production areas, except Colorado, Idaho, and Utah. Bottled milk demand is rising as school starts in many districts. Generally, the increase in bottled demand is allowing for additional cream volumes, except for supply tightness in parts of the Midwest and East.
Total conventional dairy ads were up 15% on the week, while organic ads were down 15%. The USDA says there are over eight times as many conventional ads as organic. The price spread between half gallons of organic and conventional milk is $2.37, compared to $2.08 a week ago.
Source: Brownfield Ag News
