Dairy Market News

June Announced Class III Price is $9.97

Brian Gould — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 13:25:00 -0500

Due to the July 4th holiday, the June Announced Class III and IV prices were announced today (instead of tomorrow). The June Class III price is $9.97. This compares to a May value fo $9.84 and a June 2008 value of $20.25.

CWT Finishes Latest Herd Retirement Round, Removes 101,000 Cows

Brian Gould — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 08:49:00 -0500

Cooperatives Working Together has now finished the farm audits of its seventh herd retirement round since the program was started in 2003, removing 101,040 cows that produced almost two billion pounds of milk. At the completion of the on‐farm auditing process at the end of June, CWT removed 367 herds in 41 states, comprised of nearly 101,000 cows that produced 1.96 million pounds of milk. These figures reflect the final number of dairies that successfully were audited in the herd retirement process in May and June. CWT had received 538 bids from 41 states during the bidding process in April. As has been the case with its previous herd retirement rounds, most of the cows removed were in the western regions of the country. This round also removed 818 bred heifers.

For the complete NMPF news release click here.

Corn Planting Is Second-Largest Since 1946

Brian Gould — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 09:38:00 -0500

American farmers have planted their second-largest corn acreage since 1946, the government said Tuesday, shocking traders who thought that cold, wet spring weather in the Midwest had shrunk corn sowings.

Corn plantings rose 1 percent from last year, to 87.035 million acres, the Agriculture Department said, up from March estimates of 84.986 million acres and above trade estimates that averaged 83.961 million acres.

For more detail click here.

Dramatic Increase In Cheese Stocks for May

Brian Gould — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:52:00 -0500

On Friday, the NASS released the end-of-the month cold storage report for May. This report showed a dramatic increase in end-of-month cheese stocks. Total cheese stocks were 957 mil. lbs. compared to 914.5 mil. lbls at the end of April and 881.3 mil. lbs. at the end of May ‘08.

May Dairy Cattle Slaughter Values Released

Brian Gould — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:10:00 -0500

There were 211,700 dairy cows to the slaughterhouse in May, the smallest figure (on a daily average basis) since July 2008 according to today’s NASS report.

NMPF Calls For Increase in Price Supports To Help Farmers

Brian Gould — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 09:25:00 -0500

The National Milk Producers Federation today asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to boost its purchase prices for cheese and milk powder in order to bolster the current rock-bottom milk prices that are threatening the livelihoods of thousands of dairy farmers.

In a letter sent Friday to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, NMPF requested that the USDA raise the purchase price for cheese blocks from $1.13/lb. to $1.19; raise the purchase price for barrel cheese from $1.10 to $1.16/lb.; and raise the purchase price for nonfat dry milk powder from $0.80/lb. to $0.84.

For more detail click here.

Dairy Expected To Be Among Commodities With Highest Consumption Growth Rates

Brian Gould — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 13:02:00 -0500

Over the 2009-2018 period, dairy products are expected to remain among the agricultural commodities for which consumption exhibits the highest growth rates, according to a
recent OECD report. In spite of an expected expansion in trade, international dairy markets will continue to be classified as “thin” and hence susceptible to price swings. World exports of dairy products are expected to grow for all products with only a few developing countries able to erode the shares of the traditional OECD exporters of New Zealand, Australia, the EU and the US.

May Milk Production Report Released Yesterday

Brian Gould — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:52:00 -0500

The May milk production report was released yesterday by the USDA. The data for Wisconsin shows a preliminary May production value of 2.179 bil. lbs. On a 30-day basis this value is 2.109 bil. lbs. which represents a 2.1% increase over the April production level. The May 09 production level is 1.9% higher than the May 08 level. For the US as a whole milk production was estimated to increase just 0.1%. California’s production decreased 1.9%.

Prof. Cropp's June Dairy Outlook Report is Available

Brian Gould — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 05:48:00 -0500

Prof. Cropp’s June Dairy Outlook report is available for download from the Understanding Dairy Markets website.

Nass Dry Whey Weekly Average Price Increases to an 11-Month High

Brian Gould — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:37:00 -0500

This morning the weekly average NASS dry whey price was 26.39 cents, the first time this average price exceeded 26 cents since the end of July 2008. The minimum average price for the year was 15.35 cents obtained in February.