As restaurants open back up and demand all across the country continues to rise for meat and dairy products, we have noticed a major shift in the markets. Dairy prices shot from record lows to legendary highs in a matter of weeks, and now we could be seeing that upward trend level off a little bit. When it comes to cheese price, Market Adviser John Heinberg says “we’re kinda of at a window now where we might be pausing a little bit just because of the cost value.” He continues by saying “the cheese pipelines are starting to refill and when those refill maybe we will see some upward mobility in terms of price.” For now, things are a bit stagnant.
As for the milk side of the equation, “realistically you’ve seen milk here now just consolidate in the last handful of trading sessions.” June fluid milk contracts continue to hover around twenty dollars while July hangs around the nineteen dollar area. Heinberg says we will have to continue to watch how the milk markets play out. “Right now it just seems as though we want to see where this picture gets to as the pipeline gets fuller on a daily basis.”
That is the loaded question: how long will it take for supply to catch up after it was exhausted or disposed during the peak of the pandemic? Heinberg believes that once the pipelines of supply get filled back up we will know as there will be some pull back on prices. He points to meat prices as his evidence. “Basically slaughter is almost back to where it was prior to the plant closures” and that is being reflected in lower retail meat prices.
Heinberg spoke with Farm Director Pam Jahnke around 5:45 AM on Thursday, June 9th. At the time this article was published, June milk contracts clocked in at $20.57 and July was at $19.42.
Leave a Reply