If you’ve been keeping a close eye on the milk markets, you would have noticed that Monday was one of its most tranquil days in the past month. The May 2024 Class III contract managed to settle a nickel higher and June, stepping up its game, closed an admirable 9 cents stronger. The summer heat didn’t seem to affect July adversely as it finished 3 cents stronger too. We saw August through December oscillating anywhere from 7 cents lower to 3 cents stronger. A picture of stability was painted across Class IV markets as they didn’t shift an inch either way.
The CME spot product markets followed suit, emulating the tranquillity of the day. A range of products including block cheese, barrels, and nonfat dry milk all decided to stay steady, without a twitch or tremble. However, butter softened up a bit, closing half a cent lower at $2.965 per pound, and whey followed by stepping back three quarters of a cent to $0.375 per pound.
Over on the grain market, results mixed like a farmer’s spring salad. Corn and soybeans chose to follow the stance of their dairy counterparts, remaining largely unchanged and losing just between a half cent and penny on the day. This was not the case for soybean meal though, as it catapulted almost $10 per ton to reach $355. Wheat gave us a see-saw action with the Chicago market down by 13 cents, Kansas dipping 3 cents, whereas Minneapolis positively flipped a couple cents higher.
In a nutshell, commodity markets displayed considerable steadiness on Monday, with the spotlight shining on dairy and grain commodities. The May 2024 Class III contract, block cheese, barrels, and nonfat dry milk held steady amongst the dairy products, while corn and soybeans remained unchanged on the grain side.
