MD_DA440                                                         
DA                                                               
MD DA440 BUTTER - WEST 

MADISON, WI.  March 16, 2016 (REPORT 11)

As the spring holidays draw near, butter makers are seeing some of the seasonal demand 
ebb away. Most of the orders are now filled for the early spring holidays and inventories 
are building. In addition, a few industry contacts say some end users and secondary 
marketers have filled their warehouses to assure coverage of butter needs for later in 
the year. Cream supplies are readily available and butter production is still active. But 
a number of processors are considering what the most economical use of the cream may be. 
A few butter makers are slowing the churns in favor of producing some other cream 
products or selling cream where they can. The DMN National Retail Report-Dairy for the 
week of March 11-17 found that the U.S. weighted average advertised price of 1 pound 
butter is $3.43, up $.53 from last week. The U.S. weighted average price was $3.26 one 
year ago. In the Southwest, the weighted average advertised price of 1 pound butter is 
$2.99. In the Northwest the weighted average advertised price of 1 pound butter is $3.80. 
Bulk butter pricing in the West this week is 5 cents under market to 2 cents above, based 
on the CME Group with various time frames and averages used. The Grade AA butter price at 
the CME Group on Wednesday closed at $1.9400, down $.0200 from a week ago.


15300CT 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