Dairy farmers aren’t out of their financial woes yet. The Agriculture Department announced the October Federal order Class III benchmark milk price at $16.84 per hundredweight, down $1.55 from September, driven primarily by a sharp drop in cheese prices. It’s a woeful $4.97 below October 2022 and the lowest October Class III since 2018. The year has seen a high of $19.43 in January and a low of $13.77 in July.
Class III futures portend a turnaround next month but not by much. The November contract settled Wednesday at $17.24 per cwt.; December, $17.13; January 2024, $17.34; February $17.76; and March at $18.14, all in the right direction but still short of profitability for most.
The ten month Class III average stands at $17.10, down from $22.20 at this time a year ago and compares to $16.86 in 2021.
The October Class IV price is $21.49, up $2.40 from September, thanks primarily to the record breaking butter price, but is $3.47 below a year ago, yet the highest Class IV price since December 2022. Its ten month average is at $18.93, down from $24.82 a year ago and $15.44 in 2021.
Courtesy of the Mielke Market Weekly
