The CME butter market ended the week with a jump, closing at $2.6950 per pound, 4.5 cents higher, with five lots exchanged. Spot NDM also rose, adding 1.5 cents to reach $1.3750 per pound. Two lots traded. Meanwhile, spot blocks slipped ahead of today’s Cold Storage report, settling at $1.9000 per pound, down two cents. Barrels eased a half cent to end the week at $1.8700 per pound. Two lots of barrels and zero of blocks changed hands.
Class III futures moved lower along with CME cheese. The November contract tumbled to $20.04 per hundredweight, shedding 23 cents, while Q1 contracts settled at $19.69, 21 cents lower.
USDA’s September Cold Storage report was bearish for butter. USDA pegged butter stocks at 303.0 million pounds, up 13.6% (+36.4 million pounds) on the year, but down 6.6% (-21.4 million pounds) versus August. The five-year-average monthly decrease is 23.1 million pounds. But there’s less cheese than usual. Total cheese stocks reached 1.375 billion pounds, down 7.3% (-108.2 million pounds) year-over-year, and -1.3% (-18.3 million pounds) on the month. That’s a far bigger drop than the five-year average of -1.7 million pounds.
Ever.Ag - The risk of loss trading commodity futures and options can be substantial. Investors should carefully consider the inherent risks in light of their financial condition. The information contained herein has been obtained from sources to be reliable, however, no independent verification has been made. The information contained herein is strictly the opinion of its author and not necessarily of Ever.Ag and is intended to be a solicitation. Past performance is not indicative of future results.
