In Class III trade at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, milk futures were mostly, modestly higher, buying back part of Tuesday’s losses. July was unchanged at $15.27, August was $.08 higher at $16.94, September was up $.04 at $16.78, and October was $.08 higher at $16.65.
Over in the spot market, cash cheese blocks were up $.015 at $1.72. There were two trades, one at $1.715 and one at $1.72. The last unfilled bid was on one load at $1.71. Barrels were steady at $1.775.
Butter was down $.025 at $2.225. There were two sales reported, at $2.235 and $2.2275. The last uncovered offer was for one load at $2.2225.
Nonfat dry milk was $.005 higher at $.8425. There was one load sold at that price and three at $.8375. The last uncovered offer was for four loads at $.8475.
The USDA reports that for the week ending July 23rd, butter averaged $2.31 per pound, up two tenths of a cent on the week, with sales of more than 4 million pounds. 40 pound blocks of Cheddar cheese were pegged at $1.62, 3.5 cents higher, with sales topping 12.3 million pounds. 500 pound barrels averaged $1.74, an increase of 4.8 cents, with sales of 8.7 million pounds. Dry whey came out at $.282, up eight tenths, with sales of 6.8 million pounds. Nonfat dry milk averaged $.847, 1.1 cents higher, with sales of 21 million pounds.
For the week ending July 22nd, California’s Department of Agriculture says nonfat dry milk averaged $.7859 per pound, down more than a quarter cent on the week. Sales of 9.5 million pounds were almost a million lower than the week before.