Market Reports

The holiday season is upon us, but the dairy markets haven’t been feeling particularly festive. Nearly all products lost value over the course of the week as plentiful supply and understated demand collided to pull prices downward.

After more than a month in the stratosphere, the butter market plummeted back to earth. CME spot butter crash-landed today at $2.60 per pound, down 50.75ȼ from last Friday and more than 90ȼ lower than the all-time high set five weeks ago. Cooler weather has boosted milk production and component levels, and cream is more widely available.

There was a lot of red ink on LaSalle Street this week, and every product at the CME spot market finished lower. Most milk futures also finished the week below where they began it, although losses were relatively modest. November through January Class III futures traded in the low $17s. November Class IV futures settled at a buoyant $20.75 per cwt., but the other contracts hovered in the $18s and $19s.

SMP fell hard at the GDT Pulse event on Tuesday. It’s too soon to know whether the Pulse auction represents a good indication of global SMP values or if it can be dismissed due to limited participation in such a nascent event. But it certainly sparked fears about the health of global demand for milk powder.

USDA released its Milk Production report this week, indicating that national output contracted in September for the third month in a row. While they estimated only modest production losses for September, the agency made some important revisions to production in prior months, driven by both lower yields and fewer cows.

The butter market’s luck has changed dramatically. After repeatedly setting record highs since late September, the market descended in dramatic fashion this week. Despite the decline, butter prices remain historically strong as cream is tight and buyers are making their final orders ahead of the holiday season.