Butter lost 1.25 cents/lb following two trades and settled at $1.68/lb. Barrel cheese declined ¾ of a cent to end at $1.50/lb following a single transaction. Grade A nonfat dry milk weakened a quarter cent to $1.175/lb. Dry whey closed unchanged at $0.59/lb while block cheese was the lone product to gain in value rising 1.75 cents/lb to $1.75/lb.
Class III market values responded to today’s product trade in a way that the market has become accustomed to. Low volumes as April traded less than 200 times. The only other contract to even clear 100 contracts was May. April added 14 cents/cwt to $17.89 while May 2021 through March 2022 ranged from 8 cents lower to 6 cents higher. The 2nd quarter 2021 average settled Tuesday at $18.10/cwt while the second half was at $18.24/cwt, respectively. Class IV markets were up as well in the months that traded anywhere from 4-20 cents/cwt.
USDA released their March World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) on Tuesday. The March WASDE has had a tendency of being “a snoozer” and today’s was certainly that. Ending stocks were left unchanged across corn, soybeans, and wheat while minor adjustments were made to South American production estimates and various other regions. In the end, corn prices were down a penny on old crop but up 3 cents on new crop. Soybeans added 6-7 cents/bu while wheat rallied 4-10 cents.
