CME: Butter, Powder Output Very Heavy
US - Resuming the trend from last week, spot dairy markets started the New Year quiet and mostly steady, writes Alan Levitt.
4 January 2012
1 minute read
Cheese was unchanged with no activity. Butter traded a half-cent
higher. Class III futures were mostly in the black, with new highs in MAR thru JUN.
Milk continued to move into butter/powder channels in November. Butter production
was 152.5 million lbs., up 14.2 per cent from a year ago, according to USDA’s “Dairy
Products” report released this afternoon.
NDM/SMP production was 159.7 million
lbs., up 17.5 per cent. However, ending inventory numbers suggest good butter and powder
movement during the month.
Cheese production in November was 886.5 million lbs., up just 0.3 per cent from a year ago,
USDA says. Cheddar production was down 1.7 per cent, mozzarella was down 1.5 per cent and
other varieties were up 3.4 per cent.
Prices were mostly lower on the semi-monthly Global Dairy Trade auction. The weighted-average price for SMP was $3,269/ton ($1.48/lb.), down
0.6 per cent from the 20 December event. Winning prices for WMP averaged $3,554/ton ($1.61/lb.), down 0.8 per cent.
The weighted-average price for AMF was
$3,982/ton ($1.81/lb.), down 5.1 per cent. Cheddar cheese was $3,598/ton ($1.63/lb.), up 0.2 per cent. The overall trade-weighted index was down 0.7 per cent from
the previous event, the second straight decline (see chart). The Index was down about six per cent from a year ago.
Further Reading
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