The Latest: April - 2024
Dairy Markets Swing Back and Forth
The dairy markets swung wildly back and forth this week as they digested a slew of data and headlines. Monday’s Milk Production report showed that milk output declined for a ninth straight month and while milk output was already slipping in the Southwest before avian influenza began to impact dairy herds there this spring, it seems likely that the illness exacerbated the decline.
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The beginning of October is a key time in the dairy industry as buyers start placing holiday orders and markets begin to move the way we always expect them to ahead of a more festive time of year. But a mild summer kept milk supplies longer than normal deeper into the season. Even rallying butter prices lost their momentum. Will a somewhat strange end to the summer lead to any surprises in markets toward the tail end of this year?
View reportWe’re in the thick of the summer doldrums. It’s expected during these mid-summer weeks that dairy markets do not move much. And they haven’t. But the doldrums don’t mean there’s nothing interesting going on. Dairy industry observers are intrigued by notably sluggish retail and consumer cheese sales even though summertime usually means those sales should be peaking.
View reportBy far the most noteworthy dairy market at the moment is butter. While butter typically peaks in late summer and early autumn, a surge in domestic spot prices that began in mid-April continues, sending prices from $2.0625 to over $2.7000 per pound by mid-June. And there’s no sign —at least for now— that indicates prices may fall back in the coming weeks. So how high will butter go?
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