MD_DA230                                                              
DA                                                                    
MD DA230   Fluid Milk and Cream Review - Central                      

MADISON, WI.  February 09, 2012 (REPORT 6)                            

SPOT PRICES OF CLASS II CREAM, $ PER POUND BUTTERFAT                  
F.O.B. producing plants:   Upper Midwest -   $1.6478-1.7976           

Farm milk volumes in the Central region are moving steadily higher.  Some 
Central milk handlers report that with the goal of effectively using all 
milk intakes, some milk handling decisions are based on which plant has 
processing room versus which end product has sales lined up.  For some 
handlers, sending more milk into cheese manufacturing and then into 
cheese aging programs offers one of the more palatable options to 
accommodate the seasonally strong farm milk intakes.  Use of condensed 
skim in cheese vat fortification is also on the rise as another milk 
clearing mechanism.  Central cream is readily available to butter makers, 
with Western and Eastern cream loads also adding to the raw inputs for 
Central butter churns.  Churning operations outside the Central region 
are reportedly close to capacity, and cream cheese operations have not 
fully restarted.  Central cream multiples are under some pressure from 
the abundance of cream in the marketplace, but the timing of sales also 
affected final cream pricing.  Sales to fluid accounts are steady to 
lower for some plants, adding to the milk volumes available to plants 
that usually chip in fluid loads on a regular basis.  Spot loads of milk 
are a tough sell, according to operators in that part of the industry, 
because of the burgeoning native milk supplies in the Central region.  
Prices on spot milk reportedly range from flat Class to -$4.  

1100CT  janet.linder@ams.usda.gov   608.278.4157