Market Reports

The markets sprinted straight uphill on Monday and with amazing stamina and speed, they maintained their frantic pace. They finally tired on Friday and despite the late-week retreat, the total mileage is impressive.

The pandemic sickened the dairy markets in April, creating immense pain on the farm. But there are better days ahead.

The inverted futures curve highlights that the fresh cheese shortage is likely temporary. But immediate demand must be formidable if we have managed to tighten up fresh cheese inventories so quickly after piling up cheese in immense volumes last month.

The dairy markets in general, and the cheese and butter markets in particular, have been buoyed by a perfect storm of purchases. This week’s vigorous rally suggests the dairy downturn may be over sooner than we had feared.

Most of the dairy complex gained ground last week, and this week prices moved higher across the board. Despite the recovery, the next several milk checks promise to be agonizingly inadequate.

Most dairy markets bounced back this week. There is still more milk than the market needs but for myriad reasons, the excess has become a little less burdensome. The markets are working.