Milk futures in Chicago climbed to the highest price in more than seven months on signs of increasing demand from overseas buyers.
U.S. exports of dairy products in the nine months through Sept. 30 totaled about $4.92 billion, up 26 percent from a year earlier, the Arlington, Virginia-based U.S. Dairy Export Council said in a Nov. 14 report, the most recent data available. Exporters shipped about 157,267 tons (346.7 million pounds) of milk powder, cheese, butterfat, whey and lactose in September, up 22 percent from a year earlier, according to the council.
“Some of the export numbers have been very strong,” Dan Vaught, an economist at Doane Advisory Services in St. Louis, said in a telephone interview. Prices are getting a boost from “an accumulation of all kinds of talk about robust demand, particularly on a global scale,” he said.
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Milk futures for December delivery rose 1.8 percent to $19.20 per 100 pounds at 11:22 a.m. on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, the highest for a most-active contract since April 19.
Source: Business Weekend