The dairy market took a bullish turn

ZISK
May 7
1 min read

"Bull market” is classified by The Wall Street Journal as a move 20% higher from the low. The cheese market has been in a bull market for nearly two months, according to this definition. There has been a bull market in nonfat dry milk for about three months.

I’ve been asked, “Can it be that the market has really changed that fast?” It was only a few months ago when Class III milk prices were below $15 per hundredweight (cwt.), while Class IV milk prices were below $14 starting back in November. What happened to the stories of milk being dumped in California after growth exceeded the industry’s processing capacity? Or, in several regions of the country, cooperatives maintaining base programs, supply quotas, and deductions to deal with the oversupply of milk?

It’s true. We heard all kinds of pessimistic anecdotes from all corners of the industry to start the year. Our contacts in the dairy supply chain were pointing fingers at both supply and demand factors, and it was clear that this market felt very weak. Speaking of The Wall Street Journal, on Jan. 9, the publication featured an article titled, “America is falling out of love with pizza,” which was linked to flatlining per-capita cheese consumption.

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