MD_DA840                                                         
DA                                                               
MD DA840 Cheese - West                                           

MADISON, WI.  May 11, 2016 (REPORT 19)                           

WEST CHEESE                                                      

Milk is readily available and many western cheese plants are running at or near full 
schedules. Retail demand remains fairly good for most varieties of cheese, and a few 
manufacturers report sales of Italian cheese to be better than last week. However, some 
industry contacts suggest demand for American type cheese may have backed off a little. 
In addition, a few sources speculate there may be a lot of aged block and barrel cheese 
in storage. There are limited places to move these stocks with U.S. cheese still not 
fully competitive in international markets. The letup in demand, along with long 
inventories may be contributing to the downward pressure on cheese prices seen on the CME 
Group trading. The DMN National Retail Report-Dairy for the week of May 6-12 shows the 
U.S. weighted average advertised retail price for an 8 ounce pack of natural shredded 
cheese is $2.24, down $.20 from last week, and down $.15 from a year ago. Packs average 
$2.37 in the Southwest and $1.86 in the Northwest. For 8 ounce blocks, the U.S. price is 
$2.11, down $.21 from last week, and down $.28 from a year ago. Blocks average $2.52 in 
the Southwest and $0.99 in the Northwest this week. In the West, wholesale prices are 
down $.0550 for process, and down $.0525 for cheddar block, cuts, and Monterey Jack. 
Swiss cut wholesale prices are up $.0100 this week. This week, a cooperative export 
assistance program accepted requests for 668,001 pounds (303 metric tons) of cheese. So 
far this year, the program has assisted member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 
19.0 million pounds of cheese in export markets. Dairy Products (NASS) reports total 2016 
U.S. cheese production, year to date through March, is 2.988 billion pounds, 2.9% above 
2015. March 2016 U.S. total cheese production, 1.029 billion pounds, is 7.8% above 
February 2016. In the West, total cheese production for March 2016 was 444.9 million 
pounds, 8.1% more than February. For total cheese production and various types of cheese, 
March 2016 U.S. and West cheese production percent changes compared to March 2015 are as 
follows:

	  U.S.	 West
Total Cheese	+ 1.8%	+ 1.6%
American	+ 0.9%	+ 1.3%
Cheddar	- 0.9%	+ 0.7%
Total Italian	+ 4.3%	+ 4.4%
Mozzarella	+ 4.8%	+ 5.2%
Swiss	- 2.0%	  ...

In CME Group trading Wednesday, barrels closed at $1.3000, down $.0525 from a week ago 
and blocks closed at $1.3000, down $.0250. 

WHOLESALE SELLING PRICES:  DELIVERED, DOLLARS PER POUND          
(1000 - 5000 POUNDS MIXED LOTS)                                  
                                                                 
Process 5# Loaf                              : 1.4550-1.7125     
Cheddar 40# Block                            : 1.4350-1.8800     
Cheddar 10# Cuts                             : 1.6150-1.8350     
Monterey Jack 10#                            : 1.6250-1.7850     
Grade A Swiss Cuts 6 - 9#                    : 2.5625-2.9925     


1530CT Mike.Bandli@ams.usda.gov 608.557.7010
USDA/AMS/Dairy Market News, Madison, Wisconsin 
Dairy Market News website: http://www.ams.usda.gov/market-news/dairy
Dairy Market News database portal: http://www.marketnews.usda.gov/mnp/da-home