February Federal Order Class III Milk Price Slips 22 cents
The February Federal order Class III milk price was announced by the Agriculture Department Friday morning at $14.28 per hundredweight (cwt.), down 22 cents from January, but $4.97 above February 2009, and $1.33 above the comparable California 4b price. Class III futures portend a couple more months of loss. The March contract settled Thursday at $12.88, April $12.87, May $13.09, June $13.88, and July at $14.52, with a peak of $15.19 in September October. The February Class IV price is $12.90, down 95 cents from January but $3.45 above a year ago.
The four-week NASS-surveyed cheese price averaged $1.5110 per pound, down 2.6 cents from January. Butter averaged $1.3609, virtually unchanged. Nonfat dry milk averaged $1.0812, down 11.2 cents, and dry whey averaged 39.25 cents, up fractionally.