Class III Gains Some Green
Whey settled at $0.83, setting a record high spot price in the CME Spot Dairy Auction. Block cheese remained unchanged at $1.73/lb. Barrels gained 1.50 cents to $1.6775/lb. Butter was unchanged at $2.49 with no trades taking place. NFDM was down a quarter of a penny to $1.7750/lb.
Week 3 of January Dairy Cow Slaughter was down 7.9% YoY. Class III milk futures were able to find some green as the selling pressure in spot cheese eased Thursday. January was up 7 cents to $20.35/cwt. February milk moved 33 cents to $19.84/cwt. March jumped 58 cents to $20.75/cwt. Class IV milk futures were mixed, ranging for 20 cents lower to 24 higher.
The grain markets were mixed. March corn was down 1.75 cents to $6.2525/bushel. March soybeans tacked on 8.25 cents to $14.4825/bushel. March soybean meal settled $4.20 to $404.70/ton. March Chicago Wheat fell 18 cents to $7.77/bushel.
The livestock sector traded lower on the day. February live cattle decreased 22 cents to $137.82/cwt. March feeder cattle dropped $1.30 to $159.50/cwt. February lean hogs gave up $1 to $87.02/cwt. March crude oil declined 31 cents to $87.04/barrel.