Class III milk futures price gain highlights week in dairy market

Although there was no more than minimal support for it in the dairy commodity market, the Class III milk futures price for June rose by 40 cents per hundred as nearly 800 contracts were traded on Wednesday of this week for June on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME).

This completed a gain of $1.02 per hundred for the June futures since May 8.

Near the close of trading on Wednesday, the Class III futures prices stood at $15.26 per hundred for May, $15.27 for June, $14.86 for July (up by 51 cents during the week), and $15.19 for August (up by 41 cents during the week).

They were in the upper half of the $15s per hundred for all following months through July of 2013 before reaching into the very low $16s per hundred for the latter months of 2013.

There was no price movement for Cheddar cheese blocks on Wednesday as the price remained at $1.50 per pound following one carload sale while Cheddar barrels tacked on 1 cent to close at $1.46 per pound after an unfilled bid to buy one carload.

Six carload sales were completed in the AA butter spot market on Wednesday as the price was up by .25-cent per pound to $1.3550.

Non-fat dry milk prices remained at $1.1225 per pound for Grade A (an offer to sell one carload was not covered) and at $1.0825 for Grade Extra.

Dry whey futures posted small losses for nearby months on Wednesday but prices have risen recently for the latter half of 2012 compared to those at which they had been holding for several months.

As a result of the price movements, closing prices on Wednesday were 54.525 cents per pound for May, 50 cents for June, 47.5 cents for July, 46.5 cents for August, and an average of just under 45 cents per pound for the remaining months of 2012 before a price dip to the high 30s by February of 2013.

The producer price differential for the more than 2.89 billion pounds of milk pooled during April in the Federal Milk Marketing Order 30 is 20 cents per hundred in the Chicago base zone. This means it is zeroed out or 5 cents per hundred for the milk receiving plants in the most distant zones.

Of that milk, only 10.6 percent went to Class I fluid use.

Class III usage accounted for 84 percent while Classes II and IV used a total of 5.4 percent. Component averages for the milk were 3.75 percent butterfat, 3.07 percent protein, and 5.78 percent other solids.

Cooperatives Working Together has received a total of 28 bids from Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold Cooperative, Foremost Farms, United Dairymen of Arizona, and the Maryland and Virginia Milk Producer Cooperative.

The bids were for export assistance on the sale of 2.617 million pounds of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheeses and 1.461 million pounds of butter and anhydrous milkfat to countries in Asia, Central America, North Africa, and the Middle East from May through July.