Latest News From Milk Prices

Dairy markets continue to be in peril. On the CME Dairy Spot Call, the block-barrel spread shrunk some more as barrels came down over 3 cents while blocks were the same.

Two producers on the opposite side of the country: Dwayne Faber of Washington and Val Lavigne of New York joined AgriTalk host Chip Flory and spoke about the challenges facing their dairies.

Volatility continues to run rampant through commodity markets. Rains in the Midwest have given dairy producers a breather on the run for higher corn and soybean meal prices, but it also fizzles out the support in milk.

Current production levels of dairy products and plentiful milk supplies leaves buyers unconcerned over buying milk.

With the U.S. dairy exports documenting their worst year-over-year decline in four years, Ben Laine with Terrain says the headwinds facing dairy exports side of the equation is what concerns him the most right now.

As beef production falls, meatpackers will be looking to dairy producers for cattle

Some processors have been forced to dump milk as of late amid oversupply and milk prices plummeting.

July faltered 49 cents, August 45 cents, and September was down 37. 

After hearing reports of milk being dumped due to the surplus of milk on the market, the recent USDA Milk Production report wasn’t surprising. The May report documented a 0.6% increase over a year prior.

Last year’s record milk price year fueled producers to strategically plan how to utilize the extra income from strong milk prices. Now many producers are wondering what has changed to wildly swing milk prices.

DFA decided to withdraw its membership from the IDFA over IDFA’s decision to proceed with its single-issued petition to modify the federal milk marketing order (FMMO) system.

Milk prices have fallen substantially from the record prices dairy producers saw in 2022.

After hitting a record high for Class III fluid milk in April 2022 at nearly $26, spot month milk futures have plunged to new contract lows, hitting $14.92 per hundred weight on June 16. 

The sideways price range of butter has been able to hold Class IV prices and futures at a better level than Class III.

Ben Laine shares we would need a big demand surge to see a significant increase in prices. He also adds that June is likely to be the bottom of prices, although he remains cautious for the second half of 2023.

Summer milk prices continue to see a slump. Here's where the markets landed today.

Lower milk prices seem to be the trend for 2023. And, unfortunately, it appears to be one farmers will continue to face going into 2024.

An abundance of whole and skim milk continues to be dumped in the Upper Midwest and Northeast regions.

School milk remains an important part of the Class I market, especially as overall milk consumption declines.

Class III and IV milk markets failed to excite on Friday.

After record milk prices in 2022, the downturn has come on quick and felt hard by those producers who milk cows for a living. A dairy financial consultant offers five pieces of advice to survive dairy’s volatile markets.

Margins improved Wednesday as we watched Milk follow through on another day of a strong move higher while the grain complex struggled to hold recent moves higher.

With much of the Upper Midwest processing capacity maxed out in terms of milk production, finding a new home for milk is not an easy task. This is causing dairy farms to dump milk due to the oversupply. 

Dairy markets came to party today as positive price action for Cheddar on the GDT auction this morning helped boost an underperforming Spot Call Auction.

USDA will soon decide whether to hold a formal hearing and propose changes to dairy's minimum pricing system, which would then require a vote from dairy farmers.

The slide in Class III milk markets continued Monday as most futures months declined double digits.

The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Services (AMS) has announced that the formal process of modernizing Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMO) is now officially underway.

Milk markets bled into the weekend after failing to put together two days in a row of a positive move in Cheese.

An ongoing march to pay farm workers more continues to unfold in the state of New York as agriculture labor regulations have drastically changed. From farm owners to farm workers, this has all led to confusion.

The ongoing milk price rollercoaster that seems to be on a downward track has once again forced a Dairy Margin Coverage payment to be issued in 2023. The DMC income over feed costs for April is $5.84/cwt.

Markets continue to struggle to find green. Both grains and milk continued to move lower Wednesday.

It appears June Class III milk could be below $16.00 and back to the lowest level since August 2021.

Tucked in the rolling hills of a quaint New England town, Fairholm Farm in Woodstock, Ct., a century-old farm’s recipe for success also includes technology and securing additional profit sources.

Commodities were down in almost all categories.

It’s not the news dairy producers want to hear, but one analyst says the outlook for milk prices according to the futures market is not very good.

Class III futures lost 25 cents in June and ranged from 5-14 lower in Q3. 

Class III milk finished the day only slightly lower. May down 1 cent to $16.20, June down 18 cents to $16.37, and July down 12 to $16.82.

Dairy Markets experienced a positively busy day. Over 1,800 contracts traded in June '23 Class III Milk alone!

The USDA Milk Production report for April showed a 0.3% increase. Phil Plourd says that on-farm margins have deteriorated to a degree that, historically, corresponds with less milk production or at least slower growth.

While the moves on the screen weren’t extreme, the color green was a refreshing color to see after an abysmal week of trade in the Class III milk markets. 

Red continues to dominate the CME markets. Grains and Milk both struggle to find some life as we continue into a fast paced corn and soybean planting season.

Dairy product and milk prices are substantially lower than a year ago, yet this has not been reflected at the retail level. Thus, lower prices are not stimulating demand as consumers are not seeing them.

Milk markets continue to lurk in the doldrum this week. Feed and grain prices also slid lower giving dairymen a breather on fall feed prices.

Milk prices have felt pretty lackluster throughout 2023. Unfortunately, this trend is one farmers will continue to face throughout the remainder of the year and going into 2024.

I’m a firm believer that with risk comes reward and taking on an expansion project is a big risk. However, Phil Knight, the founder of Nike says when you only see problems, you’re not seeing clearly.

Friday was not a good day for dairy markets - the roller coaster of spot trade continued lower on the trade with Cheese struggling on large volume.

The Rederick in dairy markets as of late has been one step forward and two steps back.

Green returned to the dairy markets on Wednesday on a bounce back in the CME spot trade.

Recently, NMPF president and CEO, Jim Mulhern, spoke to AgriTalk’s host, Chip Flory, about federal milk marketing orders. NMPF has requested a national hearing to amend five pricing provisions under the FMMO.

Dairy markets continue to dissapoint this week as the CME Dairy Spot Call continues to see offers with a lack of bids.