Market News

Cheese and butter stocks decline

Cash cheese slipped a little more on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange on Friday. Barrels lost a penny and blocks declined 4.5 cents.  Butter increased .75 cents and nonfat dry milk held steady.

For the week, cash cheese barrels lost 17.5 cents, blocks fell 21.25 cents, butter gained 1.25 cents and nonfat dry milk fell 4.25 cents. November Class III futures gained 11 cents, December increased 7 cents, January up 25 cents and May slipped 6 cents.

 

Monthly Cold Storage Report from USDA puts total cheese in the nation’s warehouses at the end of October at 983.8 million pounds, down 3 percent from September and 4 percent below October of 2013. American cheese stocks stood at 612 million pounds down 3 percent from September and 2 percent lower than a year ago.

This is the first time total cheese stocks have been below a billion pounds since last November. Prior to that, stocks slipped below a billion pounds in October and November of 2012.

Total butter in cold storage as of October 31^st: 138 million pounds down 5 percent from September and 24 percent below a year ago.