Happy June Dairy Month consumers, but know that it is not a happy month for dairy farmers.
CME cheese prices continued to fall the third week of May as traders anticipated the April milk production report Friday afternoon.
Farm milk prices are climbing but have a way to go to hit profitability for most U.S. dairy farms.
There’s more milk coming. The U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its 2023 U.S. milk production estimate in the April 11 World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, again citing a “larger expected cow inventory.”
The last week of March did not have a lot for the markets to feed on with respect to the U.S. Department of Agriculture reports regularly monitored. One such report was Prospective Plantings.
Nerves were frayed this week over the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and New York’s Signature Bank, even as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation stepped in.
The February federal order Class III benchmark milk price was announced by the U.S. Department of Agriculture at $17.78 per hundredweight, down $1.65 from January, $3.13 below February 2022 and the lowest it has been since September 2021.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest supply and utilization data shows dairy’s commercial disappearance in 2022 was strong, up 1.6%, according to StoneX broker Dave Kurzawski in the Feb. 20 “Dairy Radio Now” broadcast.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the January Federal order Class III benchmark milk price at $19.43 per hundredweight, which is down $1.07 from December 2022, 95 cents below January 2022 and the lowest Class III price since December 2021.
Things look a little better globally. The second Global Dairy Trade event of 2023 saw its weighted average slip just 0.1% following a 2.8% drop Jan. 3 and 3.8% Dec. 20, 2022.
The last federal order Class III benchmark milk price of 2022 was announced at $20.50 per hundredweight, down 51 cents from November 2022 but $2.14 above December 2021.
As reported last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture left its 2022 milk production forecast unchanged in its World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report but raised the 2023 estimate slightly, citing higher expected cow numbers and slightly more rapid growth in output per cow.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the November federal order Class III benchmark milk price at $21.01 per hundredweight, down 80 cents from October but $2.98 above November 2021.
Americans chewed through a lot of cheese in September, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s latest Dairy Supply and Utilization report.
The October federal order Class III benchmark milk price was announced at $21.81 per hundredweight, up $1.99 from September, $3.98 above October 2021 and the highest October Class III since 2014.
U.S. milk production jumped again in September thanks to increases in cow numbers and output per cow, but there’s more to the report than meets the eye.
The September Federal order Class III benchmark milk price was announced at $19.82 per hundredweight, down 28 cents from August but $3.29 above September 2021.
Milk production forecasts for 2022 and 2023 were lowered from last month in the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report.
What goes up, does come down, and dairy farmers know the drill all too well unfortunately.
The Global Dairy Trade auction racked up another decline in its weighted average Tuesday, fifth session in a row, down 2.9%, following the 5% drop Aug. 2.