A slight drop in dairy production has led to varied prices for the month of February.
USDA reduced production by 400 million pounds based on recent Milk Production and Cattle Investory Reports. They showed a tighter supply of dairy heifers than expected.
The World Ag Outlook Board Chair said that the month-over-month changes on prices are notable.
According to Mark Jekanowski, “In terms of product prices, kind of mixed there. So, cheese prices we raised $0.02 per pound, reflecting pretty tight inventories, but the other main products— butter, non-fat dry milk, dry whey. We lowered butter, we reduced $0.05 per pound. Non-fat dry is down $0.04 and dry whey forecast we reduced $0.03 per pound...”
Meanwhile, all milk prices fell compared to the month prior.
“Class prices— Class 3 and Class 4 were each forecast lower this month. All milk price lowered this month by $0.45 per hundredweight to $22.60 per hundredweight. Nearly, equivalent to last year, down just $0.01 per hundredweight lower than last year,” he adds.
Jekanowski attributes some of this month’s price changes to the new Federal Milk Marketing Order. That is especially true for class prices, because of changes to how they are calculated.
