Cheese prices picked up today, finishing the week with blocks and barrels in the mid-$1.70s per pound. Sellers continued to show up in Chicago armed with product, while buyers keep stepping up to the plate, finding value at these middle-of-the-recent-range prices. Another five lots of blocks and barrels combined traded hands, taking the weekly total up to 40 carloads. Third quarter Class III values climbed to $18.41, the highest level since at least mid-March.
Today’s Highlights from Ever.Ag’s Know Your Markets
- CME cheese markets continued to regain lost ground, with blocks up a half cent to $1.7600 per pound and barrels gaining two cents to close at $1.7550. Three lots of blocks and two of barrels changed hands. Spot butter also climbed again, rising to $2.3300 per pound, a two-cent gain, with one lot exchanged. NDM ticked closer to the $1.20 mark, adding 1.5 cents and settling at $1.1950 per pound. Two loads traded.
- Class III futures climbed along with spot cheese. The June contract jumped to $17.86 per hundredweight, adding 12 cents. Q3 futures settled at $18.41, seven cents higher on the day and +40 cents week-over-week.
- In April, US employers added 177,000 jobs, down from +185,000 the previous month, but ahead of expectations for +135,000. Unemployment remained at 4.2%. Despite the resilience indicated in this report, some analysts predict the effects of market turmoil and tariff uncertainty could appear in future data.
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