USDA released their cheese solicitation on Thursday. Total cheese awards came in at 38,317,800 lbs. The delivery period begins on October 1st, 2023, and extends to June 30th, 2024. If allocated evenly across the months, it would be 4,257,533.33 lbs/month or 0.36% of monthly cheese production. The market seemed rather unimpressed with the announcement on Thursday as futures failed to rebound following the release.
Class III milk futures dropped hard in Q3 on Thursday. July faltered 49 cents, August 45 cents, and September was down 37. October also lost 18 cents and Nov/Dec were also 10 cents softer. Class IV markets were relatively unchanged.
CME spot dairy auction prices watched butter add 3.25 cents to $2.38/lb on a single trade. Cheddar blocks added a penny to $1.41/lb as four loads exchanged hands. Barrels and whey lost a quarter cent each. Grade A nonfat dry milk was down three quarters of a cent.
