At $24.82 per hundredweight (cwt), the March 2022 Class IV milk price rose 82 cents from February and is $10.64 more than March 2021.
The March 2022 Class III milk price rose $1.54 from February to $22.45 per cwt, the highest since November 2020, when government purchases of cheese for food boxes pushed prices up. The Class III price is up $6.30 from March 2021.
The Class II milk price tagged along in March, up nearly $1 from February to $24.76 per cwt.
March Class III-IV milk prices again moved higher due to increases in values of butterfat, protein and milk solids used in monthly milk price calculations.
The value of butterfat rose more than 7 cents from February to $3.09 per pound. The value of milk protein jumped more than 40 cents to $2.72 per pound, the highest since last November. The value of nonfat solids rose more than 6.5 cents to $1.61 per pound, while the value of other solids increased about 1.5 cents to 61 cents per pound.
The March Class III-IV price relationship maintained a $2.37-per-cwt spread. Additionally, the Class IV price is close to the March FMMO average Class I milk price of $25.70 per cwt, which includes zone differentials. Those factors provide incentives for Class IV depooling.
FMMO administrators are scheduled to announce March uniform prices, producer price differentials and pooling volumes by April 14.
