MD_DA230                                                              
DA                                                                    
MD DA230   Fluid Milk and Cream Review - Central                      

MADISON, WI.  February 18, 2016 (REPORT 7)                            

SPOT PRICES OF CLASS II CREAM, $ PER POUND BUTTERFAT                  
F.O.B. producing plants:   Upper Midwest -   $2.5146-2.5998           

Milk production in the Central region is steady to seasonally higher. As 
calving progresses, milk handlers and processors are bracing for 
increasing milk intake volumes in the coming weeks. According to milk 
processors in the North Central area, dairy producers have maintained herd 
sizes throughout the winter. With strong dairy replacement numbers in the 
North Central, some expansion in milk cow numbers is expected. Class I 
sales are steady. In the DMN National Retail Report-Dairy for the week of 
February 12-18, the national average price for gallons of milk was $2.33, 
$1.11 lower than one year ago. In the Midwest and South Central, the current 
weekly average prices were both $1.99. Sales into Class II are unchanged to 
somewhat higher. Milk marketers are finalizing orders of increasing 
volumes of condensed skim for March delivery into ice cream/mix 
facilities. Cheese makers are hesitant to take in more milk as commodity 
cheese orders trend lower, unless spot milk pricing offers an advantage. 
Spot milk prices for the week range from $2.50 under to flat Class. Cream 
availability is unchanged from last week, with ample volumes clearing 
through the spot market. A few market participants noted that Class II 
buyers tended to contract lower cream volumes for Q1, compared to the 
previous year. Some relate this to the strong Q4 butterfat market when 
cream prices were comparatively high. This has also resulted in fairly 
active week to week cream spot sales as end users use the spot market to 
fulfill near term needs. Cream multiples are steady to lower, ranging from 
1.18 to 1.22. 


1100CT Janet.Linder@ams.usda.gov 608.557.7003
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