Early strength in Thursday morning’s Class III milk space faded as spot product markets began to trade. First, it was the whey market that stepped back another three cents, while cheese markets were relatively uneventful. Butter continued to falter and contacts suggest that some older product is finding its way to the CME before March’s old-crop cut off date. All eyes continue to be on the February 1 date as traders decipher whether trade deals will be affected by potential tariffs and what that means for markets moving forward.
Today’s Highlights from Ever.Ag’s Know Your Markets
- The CME butter market continued its decline, ending the session at $2.4500 per pound. While that was down just a penny, it brought prices to the lowest level since June 2023. Two lots changed hands. Spot dry whey gave up more ground, slipping to $0.6600 per pound, a three-cent loss, with one load exchanged. It was a relatively quiet day in CME cheese, with blocks adding a half cent to reach $1.9350 per pound, while barrels remained at $1.8650. Five lots of blocks and four loads of barrels traded.
- Dairy cow slaughter rates are well above prior-year levels. For the week ending January 18, culling totaled 58,000 head, up 13.5% on the year. Rates were highest in the Northwest (+29.5%) and Midwest (+25.7%) and lowest in the West (+1.5%), where HPAI remains an issue.
- US corn export sales were strong, with 2024-25 crop sales within the predicted range at 1.359 million metric tons, while new-crop sales surpassed expectations at 45,800 metric tons. Old-crop soybean sales were below expectations, with 438,002 metric tons sold. New-crop sales were higher than expected, with 4,520 metric tons sold.
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