CME: Cheese Tops $2, All Futures Higher

US - Barrels were bid 2.75¢ higher to $2.0075 and haven’t attracted a seller since the first of the month, writes Alan Levitt.

15 November 2011

1 minute read

North America

Blocks traded lower but recovered to settle a penny higher on an unfilled bid.

Spot butter held unchanged after dropping eight days in row. 2012 futures remain discounted to today’s spot levels, but futures rallied throughout the dairy complex.

NOV, DEC and JAN Class III futures increased 30¢ to new highs. Whey futures reached new highs across the board; contracts covering the first half of 2012 average 56.1¢, up 8.5¢ from a month ago.

Butter futures increased 2.0¢ in the JAN-JUN contracts today after the six-month average fell below $1.68 Friday for the first time since April.

NDM futures bumped up 0.5¢ in the DEC-MAR contracts. Cheese futures increased 6.6¢ in the DEC contract (to $1.88) and posted smaller gains on the other nearby contracts.

US butterfat exports have slowed significantly, according to USDA/FAS trade data.

Shipments in September were just 5.7 million lbs., less than a third of the volumes shipped earlier in the year (see chart). Exports were just 4.1 per cent of US butter production in September, down from an average of 9.2 per cent of production in the January-August period.

Sales to Europe, North Africa and Korea declined in the third quarter vs. the second quarter.