Market News

Butter drops further

Butter continued to slide on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Wednesday, dropping another 21 cents.  Butter has lost 54 cents so-far this week.  There were a couple of sales but once again the market was set by an uncovered offer.

Everyone expected butter prices to slide more into line with global prices at some point although most thought it would be a little later after the holiday orders are filled.  Dairy Market News says all-of-a-sudden, there is plenty of cream available as ice cream demand has backed-off and milk production has increased.  All summer, butter makers were finding it more profitable to sell the cream than to churn it, now cream is readily available and often at a discount price.  The problem is, no one wants to build inventory at these prices and buyers are hesitant, waiting for the price to decline further.

National Dairy Retail Report says the average advertised price for a pound of butter in the U.S. is $4.20 per pound up 52 cents in the last two weeks

The National Dairy Products Sales Report for the week ending October 4th: cheddar cheese blocks averaged $2.38 per pound up 0.9 cents from the previous week.  Blocks were up 4.9 cents at $2.48, butter increased 4.4 cents to average $3.01, nonfat dry milk increased a nickel to average $1.49 and dry whey decreased 0.4 cents to 66.5 cents per pound.