Market News

The decline continues in dairy

Dairy markets continued to slide in the holiday-shortened week. For the week: cash cheese barrels lost 9.25 cents, blocks are 4.75 cents lower, butter fell 3 cents and nonfat dry milk slipped 2.25 cents.  December Class III is down 92 cents, January fell 55 cents and May is 15 cents lower.

Butter makers were busy over the Thanksgiving weekend as plenty of cream was available. Buying is expected to slow-down as holiday orders get filled in the coming weeks.  The National Dairy Retail Report says the weighted average price for a pound of butter in the U.S. was $3.28 down 35 cents from two weeks ago.

Cheese plants were also busy as more milk was available with schools closed for Thanksgiving. Class I demand is expected to rebound this week.  The declining cheese prices have prompted buyers to hold-off with making purchases until they absolutely have to.  Once it looks like prices have stabilized, we could see a jump in buying.