For milk associated with Federal Milk Marketing orders, product-price formulas are used to set minimum prices as reported in the Announcement of Class and Component Prices  publication each month. The Class and Component Prices are calculated by weighting the sales values and volumes using the most recent four or five weeks (since the last monthly Announcement of Class and Component Prices) from the latest National Dairy Products Sales Report (NDPSR). For more information on product price formulas and a schedule of release dates, please visit the Dairy Mandatory Market Reporting page. Additional information on price formulas can be found on the Price Formulas page.

The Retail Milk Price is a milk price series that is collected by the Market Administrator offices surveying one outlet each of the largest food store chain, the second largest food store chain, and the largest dairy/convenience store chain in the selected city or metropolitan area. The survey is conducted on one day between the first and tenth of each month, excluding Fridays and weekends. The price obtained is for the most common brand, based on shelf space, and does not represent a temporary special price, or one that is dependent on the purchase of other food items or the use of a cents-off coupon. The determination of the largest and second largest food store chain is based on estimated sales of fluid milk products in the metropolitan area. Currently, prices are collected for conventional whole milk and conventional reduced fat (2%) milk, sold in gallon containers, and organic whole milk and organic reduced fat (2%) milk, sold in half-gallon containers.

Market information and data is collected throughout the course of the live auction, as the reporter will grade the livestock and record the pertinent information in the reporting tool. Information that the reporter must record for each lot includes the official USDA grade, weight, head count, and selling price. To ensure the accuracy of these reports, each Market Reporter is required to take a written test and apply their skills during an official live animal grading correlation with their supervisor every two years.

The regulated plant list report is updated monthly as data are submitted by the individual Orders to the Market Information Branch of the AMS Dairy Program. This report lists the number of Federal Orders under which each plant is regulated for the particular month. Although a plant cannot be regulated under more than one order in the same month, some plants may be regulated by one order one month and then be regulated under another order the following month. Regulated handlers are required to submit to the Market Administrator the amounts of producer milk, in pounds, that were received in the previous month. The regulated plant list report lists both regulated pool distributing plants and regulated pool supply plants. Pool distributing plants package and distribute Class I fluid milk products. Pool supply plants supply pool distributing plants with Grade A milk as the need arises. The exact qualification standards and criteria for these two groups of regulated milk handling entities are defined in the statute for each Federal Milk Marketing Order (See CFR §1000 for each Order).  

Estimated Sales figures are representative of the consumption of fluid milk products in Federal Milk Marketing Order areas. The Federal Order In-Area Sales account for approximately 92 percent (based on population density) of total fluid milk sales in the United States. An estimate of total U.S. fluid milk sales is derived by extrapolating the remaining 8 percent of sales from the Federal Order data.

The Utilization of Producer Milk in Class IV Products is the monthly volume of milk used to produce Class IV Fluid Milk products. The Class IV Utilization Percentage of Producer Milk is the monthly volume of Class IV Milk used to produce Class IV products in each individual order divided by the monthly total of all producer milk pooled for that individual order for all classes. The Butterfat Test of Producer Milk Used in Class IV Products is the percentage of butterfat found in Class IV milk for each order for each month. The Nonfat Solids Test of Producer Milk Used in Class IV Products is the percentage of nonfat solids found in Class IV milk for each order for each month.