Cash dairy prices under pressure

Cash cheese prices were mostly steady in the President’s Day holiday-shortened week last week. The 40-pound block Cheddar closed Friday at $1.5450 per pound, up 1 1/2-cents on the week but 61 3/4-cents below a year ago.
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The blocks were unchanged Monday and Tuesday. The barrels closed Friday at $1.4850, unchanged on the week but 67 1/4-cents below a year ago. They were also unchanged Monday but lost a quarter-cent Tuesday, and slipped to $1.4825, 61/4-cents below the blocks, a spread that typically runs 3-5 cents.
Three cars of each traded hands last week but six loads of block were traded Tuesday and three of barrel so product maybe starting to make its way to Chicago.
Cash butter finished Friday at $1.7225 per pound, up a quarter-cent on the week but 6 1/4-cents below a year ago. It dropped 5 1/4-cents Monday and 2 3/4-cents Tuesday, likely resulting from bearish cold storage data, and fell to $1.6425. Twelve cars were sold last week and 13 had already sold as of Tuesday this week.
Cash Grade A nonfat dry milk reversed four weeks of gains, starting last week with a 5-cent gain only to give it back Thursday and lose another 4 cents Friday, closing at $1.11 per pound, down 4 cents on the week. The spot powder lost a penny and a quarter Monday and a penny and a half Tuesday, dipping to $1.0825. It has plunged almost 12 cents in the last four sessions. The trade saw 24 carloads exchange hands last week, down from 44 the previous week and 54 the week before that.
 
January milk production up 2.1%
U.S. milk production continued to top year-ago levels for the 13th consecutive month, according to preliminary data in this afternoon’s December Milk Production report. The Agriculture Department estimates output in the top 23 producing states at 16.5 billion pounds, up 2.1 percent from January 2014. The 50-state total, at 17.6 billion pounds, was also up 2.1 percent from a year ago.
Revisions raised the original December 23-state estimate by 14 million pounds, now reported at 16.3 billion pounds, up 3.4 percent from a year ago.
January cow numbers in the 23 states, at 8.62 million head, were up 8,000 head from December and 103,000 more than a year ago. The 50-state count, at 9.3 million head, is up 51,000 from December and 96,000 more than a year ago.
January output per cow in the 23 states averaged 1,918 pounds, up 17 pounds from January 2013, and the highest production per cow for the month of January since the 23 State series began in 2003.
Continued increasing cow numbers and higher output per cow fueled the gains in January, and while the increase was not as big as expected, California was down 2.6 percent on a drop of 2,000 cows from a year ago and output per cow was down 50 pounds. That downturn is likely to be short-lived.
Wisconsin, meanwhile, was up 2.1 percent, thanks to a 55-pound gain per cow and 5,000 more cows. Idaho was up 1.4 percent on 14,000 more cows but output per cow was down 20 pounds. New York posted a 3.7 percent increase on 65 pounds more per cow and 1,000 more cows. Pennsylvania was up 3.0 percent on a 55-pound per cow gain but cow numbers were down 1,000. Minnesota registered a 3.0 percent increase on a 50-pound gain per cow but cow numbers were unchanged.
The biggest gain was in Michigan, up 9.6 percent, thanks to 22,000 more cows and 75 pounds more per cow. South Dakota was next, up 8.7 percent, followed by Utah up 6.9 percent, and Colorado and Indiana both up 6.2 percent.
Just two states showed declines, California and New Mexico, where a 40-pound drop per cow put less milk in the tank even though cow numbers were unchanged.
Arizona was up 3.0 percent on a 25-pound gain per cow and 3,000 more cows. Texas was up 4.4 percent despite a 20-pound drop per cow but cow numbers were up 25,000 head. Washington state was up 2 percent, thanks to 9,000 more cows but output per cow was down 25 pounds.
 
Production up 2.4 percent in 2014
The Agriculture Department reports annual milk production for 2014 in the U.S. hit 206 billion pounds, up 2.4 percent from 2013. Revisions to 2013 output increased the annual total by 13 million pounds and 2014 output was revised up 52 million from last month’s projection.
Output per cow in 2014 averaged 22,258 pounds, up 442 pounds from 2013. USDA says the average annual rate of milk production per cow has increased 13.9 percent from 2005.
The average number of milk cows on U.S. dairy farms totaled 9.26 million head, up 0.4 percent from 2013. The average number was revised up 2,000 head for 2014, according to USDA.
 
January butter stocks up
Jan. 31 butter stocks totaled 148.1 million pounds, according to preliminary data from the Agriculture Department’s latest Cold Storage report issued this afternoon, up a whopping 43.4 million pounds or 41 percent from December and 4.2 million pounds or 3 percent above January 2014. It’s been some time since butter stocks exceeded month ago and year ago levels.
American type cheese, at 632.5 million pounds, was up 4.7 million pounds or 1 percent from December and 1.7 million or virtually unchanged from a year ago. The total cheese inventory stood at 1.04 billion pounds, up 24.6 million pounds or 2 percent from December and 27.5 million or 3 percent above a year ago.
Revisions added 6.1 million pounds of butter to the original December estimate and 4 million pounds of American cheese.
 
Source:  Capital Press
 

Mirá También

Así lo expresó Domingo Possetto, secretario de la seccional Rafaela, quien además, afirmó que a los productores «habitualmente los ignoran los gobiernos». Además, reconoció la labor de los empresarios de las firmas locales y aseguró que están «esperanzados» con la negociación entre SanCor y Adecoagro.

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