Class III Struggles to Hold on to Small Gains
A sleeper of a week in Dairy gave us gains in the Dairy products. All five CME spot traded products gained in their weekly averages. Blocks were up 10 cents, Barrels gained 8 cents, Butter was up 2 cents, NonFat Dry milk gained a quarter of a cent, and Dry whey gained about 2 and ¼ cents. The Spot trade on Friday had Cheddar Blocks falling half a penny to $1.79/lb, Barrels gained a quarter of a cent to $1.58/lb. Finishing the week with a block/barrel spread at 21 cents and a cheese average of 1.68 1/2/lb.
Butter gained a penny to $1.71 ½ /lb, NonFat dry milk gained ¾ of a cent to $1.17/lb, and Dry Whey was unchanged at $0.59 1/4/lb.
Class III struggled to hold small gains. March fell 1 to $16.36, April fell 38 cents to $17.71/cwt and May cell 17 to $18.31. Balance of 2021 was mostly 1-5 cents higher.
Class IV was basically unchanged on Friday. March at $14.36, April $15.07, and May at $15.45/cwt.
Feed and Grain gave us a look at some buying opportunities but gained it back to finish relatively unchanged. Corn was up ½ a cent at 5.39/bu, Soybeans moved a quarter of a cent lower at $14.13 ½ after trading as low at 13.92/bu. Soybean meal fell $4.10 to $400.70/ton. The first look we have had at $400 SBM since December.
