Whey led the rally in Class III last week and came out of the gate strong with bids this morning, giving Q1 Class III futures contracts an early pop back over $19.50. Spot trading showed some follow through with 10 total loads of cheese changing hands and the spot block price increasing. Whey didn’t see any volume but price still tracked higher. After the day’s trading was said and done, the market was quietly sideways and gave back 10-13 cents of last week’s gains. Tomorrow’s WASDE report isn’t expected to provide much news as USDA typically waits for the January report to finalize harvest details, but a surprise or two isn’t out of the question for the grain markets.
Today’s Highlights
- Spot blocks started the week with a three-cent jump, closing at $1.7300 per pound. But barrels settled unchanged at $1.6900 per pound. Four lots of blocks and six of barrels changed hands. The CME butter market gave back some of last week’s gains, dipping to $2.5300 per pound, 1.5 cents lower, with eight loads exchanged. The whey market continued its hot streak, rising to $0.7150, up half a cent.
- While CME blocks climbed, futures moved in the opposite direction. Q1 Class III contracts slipped to $19.35 per hundredweight, shedding nine cents. It was a similar story in “all cheese” futures, with January and February contracts settling at $1.7840 and $1.7880 per pound, down a penny and $0.0160, respectively.
- Grain futures didn’t make any major moves ahead of tomorrow’s World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report. December corn closed at $4.3400 per bushel, adding $0.0325, and January corn eased to $9.9000 per bushel, $0.0375 lower.
