U.S. milk prices are beginning a slow rebound but have a long way back to profitability. The Agriculture Department announced the January Federal order Class III benchmark price at $13.96 per hundredweight, up 18 cents from December but 4 cents below January 2018. It equates to $1.20 per gallon, up from $1.18 in December and compares to $1.20 a year ago.
The January Class IV price is $15.48, up 39 cents from December, $2.35 above a year ago, and the highest Class IV price since September 2017.
The four week USDA surveyed cheese price used in calculating the month’s Class prices averaged $1.3868 per pound, up 1.3 cents from December. The butter price averaged $2.2343, down 0.8 cent. Nonfat dry milk averaged 95.13 cents per pound, up 4.9 cents, and dry whey averaged 48.05 cents per pound, up 1.2 cents from December. Courtesy of the Mielke Market Weekly
