production increases but market prices
still tanking
Ray Mueller
Correspondent
MADISON
In the milk production report for May, Wisconsin continued to run well above the national trend by posting a 1.9-percent increase compared to May of 2008 while the national increase for the top 23 states was .2 percent.
Wisconsin’s milk production of 2.179 billion pounds for the month, compared to 2.149 billion a year earlier, came on a combination of a 25-pound increase per cow to 1,735 pounds and an addition of 5,000 cows for a total of 1.256 million.
Other states posting increases in the May to May comparisons were Texas at 6.3 percent to a total of 789 million pounds of milk from 430,000 cows (up by 18,000), New Mexico at 2 percent to 712 million pounds, Minnesota at 2.9 percent to 784 million pounds, Michigan at 5.3 percent to 698 million pounds, Colorado at 2.4 percent to 259 million pounds and Kansas at 6.8 percent to 220 million pounds.
California continued in a downward trend on milk production with a 69-million pound drop (or 1.9 percent) to 3.514 billion pounds for May. Percentage decreases in other states were 6.2 in Arizona, 1.4 in Idaho to 1.047 billion pounds, 3.1 in Vermont, 3.9 in Missouri and 1.4 in Washington to 487 million pounds.
Milk production in the top 23 states for May was 15.483 billion pounds on an average of 1,828 pounds (up by 9 pounds from May of 2008) from a milking herd of 8.47 million head. That milking herd total was down by 25,000 head from May of 2008 and 10,000 from April of 2009.
Despite the slowdown on the increase in national milk production, there still is no sign of a response in the form of higher milk prices. During the past week, prices for 40-pound Cheddar block cheese declined slightly on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange spot market while prices for Cheddar barrels and AA butter have not changed.
On Wednesday of this week, the Cheddar block price closed at $1.175 per pound after one carload sale. Cheddar barrel prices held at $1.07 per pound after a session with four carload sales.
In previous sessions, there were six carload sales of blocks last week Thursday and a combined 14 of blocks and barrels last week Friday. On Tuesday of this week, however, there was no activity in the spot market for Cheddar cheese for only the fourth trading day in 2009.
The AA butter spot market price was steady at $1.2050 per pound following six sales on Wednesday morning. There were two additional unfilled bids to buy.
Given the minimal price movement in the spot market, there has been very little change in the Class III milk futures in recent days. Most months through January of 2011 posted single digit gains per hundred by early afternoon on Wednesday.
Per hundred futures prices on Wednesday stood at $9.94 for June, $10.10 for July, $10.73 for August, $11.57 for September and $12.41 for October. For the following months, there are gradual rises that reach the lower half for the $15s per hundred for June 2010 through May of 2011.
