It was an active spot cheese session today – 11 loads of both blocks and barrels traded and markets traveled a good distance before settling mostly unchanged. Blocks traded as low as $1.7400 (down 3.5 cents) while barrels dipped to $1.7825 (down 2.5 cents). Buyers stepped in to bid both higher by the close. All eyes were on today’s March Milk Production report, waiting to see if output in regions with new cheese plants would continue to grow and how much California output would recover.
Today’s Highlights from Ever.Ag’s Know Your Markets
- Price action was minimal across the board at the CME today. Barrels ticked up a quarter cent to $1.8100 per pound, while blocks were unchanged at $1.7750. Trading volume was healthy, with 11 loads each changing hands. Spot butter and NDM also rose a quarter cent each, closing at $2.3225 and $1.1850 per pound, respectively. Five lots of butter and one of NDM traded.
- US March milk production totaled 19.8 billion pounds, up 0.9% year-over-year but slightly below expectations. California output showed continued recovery from the avian influenza outbreak. Production slipped 2.1% on the year, but that was the smallest decrease in six months. All other regions logged growth. Meanwhile, the dairy herd totaled 9.404 million head, up 8,000 cows compared to February and +57,000 versus 2024.
- In New Zealand, milk output rose 0.8% on the year on a milk solids basis in March. That brought the season-to-date total up 3.0% versus 2024. On a volume basis, production ticked up 0.6%, with the season-to-date total 2.2% higher year-over-year.
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