February 2011 Archived Dairy News

Ag Prices: Hay Jumps to $186/ton, Corn and Soybean Prices Slip
(May 31, 2011) The May Milk-Feed Price Ratio is 1.74, down from April's 1.83 estimate, and compares to 2.17 in May 2010.

The All Milk Price was estimated at $19.40 per hundredweight, down 20 cents from last month's estimate, but $4.40 above a year ago.

Corn averaged $6.15 per bushel, down 20 cents from April, but $2.67 above a year ago. The soybean price, at $13.00 per bushel, was down 10 cents from April, but $3.59 above a year ago. Alfalfa baled hay at $186.00 per ton, was up $31.00 from April, and $65.00 above a year ago.

CDFA Sets Milk Price Formula Hearing
(May 27, 2011) The California Department of Food & Agriculture will hold a consolidated public hearing, June 30-July 1, in Sacramento, Calif., to consider petitions requesting amendments to the state’s milk marketing order.

Originally, California Dairies, Inc. (CDI) requested a hearing, proposing changes to the Class 4a formula, including increases in the butter and nonfat dry milk (NFDM) make allowances, as well as the butter f.o.b. price adjuster.

Since then, Land O’Lakes petitioned to include proposed changes to the Class 4b pricing formula, including updating the whey factor, increasing the manufacturing allowance for cheese, and updating the f.o.b. price adjuster for cheese. In a separate request, the California Dairy Campaign also asked for changes to the Class 4b formula.

April Cold Storage Report
(May 20, 2011) American cheese stocks, at 623.4 million pounds, was up 12.8 million pounds or 2 percent from March, and 13.8 million pounds or 2 percent above a year ago, according to USDA’s preliminary Cold Storage data issued Friday. April's total cheese inventory was 1.04 billion pounds, up 1 percent from March and up 2 percent from a year ago.

April butter stocks stood at 141.4 million pounds, down 2 percent or 2.8 million pounds from March, and 31 percent or 64.9 million pounds below April 2010.

June Federal Order Class I Price Up 57 Cents
(May 20) The Agriculture Department announced the June Federal order Class I base milk price this morning at $20.32 up 57 cents from May, and $5.04 above June 2010.

(May 1, 2011) USDA’s March 2011 Dairy Products report estimated total cheese production at 916 million lbs., up 2.4% from March 2010 and 13.4% more than February 2011.

Italian-type cheese production totaled 400 million lbs., up 5.1% from March 2010 and and 14.0% more than February 2011. Mozzarella production totaled 311 million lbs., up 3.6% from March 2011 and 13.7% more than February 2011.

American-type cheese production totaled 365 million lbs., up just 0.3% from March 2010, and 11.0% more than February 2011. Cheddar production totaled 266 million lbs., down 6.1% from March 2010, but up 9.6% from February 2011.

Butter production totaled 157 million lbs., up 12.4% from March 2010 and 4.8% more than February 2011.

Other products, March 2011 production and comparisons to March 2010 include:

• Dry milk powders: Nonfat dry milk (human), 126 million lbs., down 8.9%.; skim milk powders, 42.0 million lbs., up 51.3%.

• Whey products: Dry whey (total) 85.3 million lbs., down 7.8%; lactose (human and animal), 84.9 million lbs., up 11.3%; and whey protein concentrate (total), 37.2 million lbs., down 1.4%.

• Frozen products: Ice cream (regular, (hard), 74.7 million gallons, down 5.7%; ice cream (lowfat, total), 35.9 million gallons, up 1.5%; sherbet (hard), 4.46 million gallons, down 10.8%; and frozen yogurt (total), 6.55 million gallons, up 35.6%.

Looking at the first quarter of 2011, cheddar cheese production declined compared to the same period in 2010, but output of other cheeses and butter were up strongly, according to CME Daily Dairy Report editor Alan Levitt. In the January-March 2011 period, cheddar production was 784.1 million lbs., down 1.6% from a year ago. Production of mozzarella was up 5.9%; production of other cheese varieties was up 6.6%; butter was up 6.8%; and NDM/SMP was up 3.1%.

California April Class 4 Prices Announced

(May 2, 2011) California's April 2011 Class 4a milk price was announced at $19.45/cwt., up 39 cents from March 2011, and $5.96 more than April 2010.

The April 4b price is $14.34/cwt, down $2.42 from March 2011, but $2.04 more than April 2010.

Through the first four months of 2011, price averages and changes compared to the same period of 2010 are:
Class 4a: $18.22, +4.99; Class 4b: $15.13/cwt., +$2.85.

Advanced Pricing Factors	June 2011
Class I Base	$20.32/cwt.
*Base Skim Milk Class I:	$12.82/cwt.
Class III skim:	$8.76/cwt.
Class IV skim:	$12.82/cwt.
**Butterfat	$2.2700//lb.
Class II Skim price:	$13.52/cwt.
Class II NFS price:	$1.5022/lb.

	June 2011
Butter	$2.0460/lb.
NFDM	$1.6065/lb.
Cheese	$1.6413/lb.
Dry Whey	$0.4915/lb