Market News

Dairy markets quiet despite another GDT drop

Despite another drop at the Global Dairy Trade auction, U.S. dairy markets were quiet on Tuesday. Cash cheese barrels gained a quarter-cent on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, blocks lost 1.75 cents, butter was steady and nonfat dry milk increased a penny. Class III futures were narrowly mixed.

Another 9.3 percent drop in the overall index at the Global Dairy Trade auction on Tuesday. This is the tenth-consecutive decline putting the index at a record-low 514. The index has lost 451 points since March 3^rd and 891 since a year ago.

There was a 0.2 percent increase in the cheddar cheese price compared to the July 15^th sale. All of the other products were down. Rennet casein lost 2.7 percent, butter milk powder was 5.1 percent lower, butter declined 6.1 percent, whole milk powder lost 10.3 percent, anhydrous milkfat fell 11.7 percent and skim milk powder plunged 14.4 percent.

Volume was 46,527 metric tons, the largest sale since last October 15^th.

 

Total cheese production in the United States in June was 959 million pounds up 1.5 percent from June of 2014. Wisconsin produced just under 251 million pounds of cheese in June up 5.4 percent from a year ago. California cheese production totaled over 200 million pounds in June up six-tenths-of-one-percent from June of 2014.

Butter production totaled 143 million pounds in June, 1.7 percent above a year ago.

Year-to-date: total cheese production is just under 5.8 billion pounds up 2.1 percent from the first six months of 2014. Italian-type cheese production is 2 percent higher and American output is up 2.8 percent. Butter production is 1.4 percent below the January-through-June period of a year ago.