Class III markets took a breather after yesterday’s extreme lower move to check in with spot markets. By mid-afternoon spot cheese confirmed current Class III futures around $20. In the near term, spot cheese appears to have found the high side of its range, given offers above current price levels. Contacts expect more cheese to become available as plant startups continue, the impact of avian flu in California wears off, and we head into spring flush.
Today’s Highlights from Ever.Ag’s Know Your Markets
- Spot blocks tumbled back into the $1.80s again, falling $0.0775 to settle at $1.8225 per pound. Barrels also slipped, dropping to $1.8400 per pound, three cents lower. Two lots of blocks and three of barrels traded. Class III February and March contracts ticked up after yesterday’s slide. February closed at $19.92 per hundredweight, gaining seven cents, while March rose to $19.67, two cents higher.
- At $1.37 per pound, US NDM/SMP product is still more expensive than New Zealand ($1.19) and the EU ($1.18). It’s a different story in butter, where Europe is at a premium to the rest of the world at $3.46 per pound compared to $3.02 in New Zealand and $2.59 in the US. Europe also has the most expensive cheese: $2.23 per pound compared to $2.14 in New Zealand and $1.91 in the US.
- In December, the Consumer Price Index rose year-over-year for the third month in a row and logged the biggest yearly increase since July. Prices advanced 0.4% on the month and +2.9% year-over-year compared to +0.3% and +2.7% the month before. The food-at-home index ticked up 0.3% month-over-month and +1.8% versus 2023, while November’s grocery prices rose 0.5% and +1.6%. Restaurant prices lifted 0.3% versus November and +3.6% year-over-year, the same rate as the month before.
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