Market News

Dairy markets continue to slide

Dairy markets declined further on Wednesday. Cash cheese barrels lost another 5.75 cents to close at $1.6475 per pound, blocks lost 4.75 cents to $1.6825.  Butter fell 2 cents to $1.97 and nonfat dry milk held steady at $1.115 per pound.  Class III futures declining in concert with cheese: December down 38 cents to $18, January lost 47 cents to $16.80 and February declined 23 cents to $16.49.

Dairy Market News says milk production is strong across the country. Extra milk is available as schools are closed for the long holiday weekend meaning Class I demand is reduced.  Spot loads are available at $2 to $3 under Class price.  90 loads of milk shipped into Florida this week, down 15 from last week.  Class I demand is expected to rebound next week.

The November all-milk price is $23.40 per hundredweight down $1.50 from October. The Preliminary Milk-to-Feed Ratio is 2.8 for November compared to 2.91 in October and 2.27 in November of 2013.

National Dairy Products Sales Report for the week ending November 22^nd: cheddar cheese blocks averaged $2.13 per pound down 7.9 cents from the previous week.  Barrels were 5.8 cents lower at $2.09 per pound, butter decreased a half-cent to $2.00, nonfat dry milk lost 10.3 cents to average $1.34 per pound and dry whey decreased 1.3 cents to 62.8 cents per pound.

Weekly cow slaughter for the week ending November 8 was 55,900, 9 percent or 5,600 head less than the same week a year ago. NASS had reported total dairy cow slaughter in October was 252,000 head down 25,000 from a year ago.  Year-to-date slaughter is down about 270,000 cows.