Al6-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 31,2001
GRAIN, CATTLE, HOG,
&MILKBFP
FUTURES MARKETS
Markets Courtesy of Chicago Board and Mercantile Exchange
Closing Bids: Thursday, March 29,2001
1255_1/2_nf
258 258 3/4 256 1/2! 257 1/4 ;
olsl#
.mj.
02DeC
03Dec 260 1/2 260 1/2
Month fojiehlhg
Soybeans
Month Openjhg
442
High s
01 May 443
01Juf 446 1/2 447 1/4
01Aug 444 1/2-445 1/4 438 1
440 1/2 441 1/2
OlNoy 445 1/2| 446
455 455
( nij 11 " 1" >•» " _ * “
io2Mkft|
02M®
47° i
4751
pi
Soybean Meal
flpeCtSftgl High
152.7 153.5
i Month
Oi^y
irnm
itSitiff
149.5 (iSO.Oj
147.5[148.0
145.5 145.8
144.3^144.4
144.7 [144.9
145.5 145.6
147.5 147.5
148.0 f 148.2
w
149.0 149.0
Ken Bailey
Penn State
March 23,2001
Butter Markets
Sense Scarcity
• Grade AA butter hits
$1.6450 at CME.
• Cheese remains stable.
• Futures markets
strengthen.
It’s official! I’ve taped
today’s futures market settle
ment prices for March through
December 2001 on the wall in
my office. I’m calling the top of
the market and believe prices
will not get much higher (no,
this bit of news won’t depress fu
tures market prices). I could be
wrong about this, but we’ll just
have to wait and see. Any way
you look at it, some enterprising
individual could lock in a por
tion of their 2001 milk supply at
some very favorable prices.
The futures market settle
ment prices for today at the Chi
cago Mercantile Exchange
shows the Class 111 price to peak
at $13.25 per cwt in September
of 2001. Recall the September
Class 111 price last year was
$1J).76 per cwt. The Class IV fu-
*• S'.*.
TMfStf'
20
4 214 3/
5 22
229 1/2 nf
233
4 242 1/4! 242 1/2 242 1/4
2 249 1/41 249 1/4
4 254 254 1/4
2581 260 1/2 |
Low !-- •' *** [
High
Opsing •• ~
4361 437 436 [436 1/
440
tures price peaks at $14.53 by
April 2001 and remains close to
that level through November
2001.
These are very strong prices!
The question then is whether the
actual Class 111 and IV prices
will be this strong when we roll
into the spring and fall months.
In reality they will be either
higher or lower. What we do
know is that producers can use
the futures markets today to
“lock in” substantially higher
milk prices when compared to
last year.
The new information that has
likely affected the butter market
is USDA’s Cold Storage report
that was released March 20. It
shows butter stocks on February
28, 2001 at 83.6 million pounds,
down 22.5 percent from a year
ago. Grade AA butter prices at
the Chicago Mercantile Ex
change this week rose from
$1.5650 per pound on Monday,
March 19 to $1.6450 by Friday,
March 23. USDA reported this
week that cream supplies are re
ported as “tight.” If adequate
butter is not made by June of
this year, butter will be tight the
rest of the year.
The cheese market remained
fr ir r.rjr f
233 1/4
233
254
441 1/4
440
439 438
Weekly Dairy Market Outlook
-22'
1 Composite Volume Open_lnt
~ 2 3J 03/28/01 6214 46755
-22
229 1/2
233 1/4
242 1/2
249 1/4
-22 i
254 1/4
-22
-22 i
255 1/2
-14
257 1/4
260 1/2 -10
TiHiHPPei
JJ SS*s|£ i
-521
-56 i
440 3/4
-54!
438 3/
Oats
steady this week at the Chicago rels rose from $1.2675 per pound C wt
Mercantile Exchange Blocks on Monday to $1.29 by Friday. For more detail, see my Web
rose slightly from $1.32 per Because of these higher prices, s i te at http://www.aers.psu.edu/
pound on Monday, March 19 to the Class 111 price for March dairyoutlook/
$1.34 by Friday, March 23. Bar- 2001 is expected to be $11.39 per
Table 1. Chicago Mercantile Exchange Prices, Weekly Averages
23-Mar-Ol 16-Mai-01 9-Mar-01 2-Mar-01 23-Feb-01
Cheese
500 lb barrels
40-lb blocks
Butter
Grade AA
Source: Dairy Market News, AMS,USDA
{http://www. ams. uscla.gov/dairy/mncs/weekly. htm)
Table 2. NASS Weekly US Average Survey Prices
Cheese
500 lb Barrels 1/
40-lb blocks
Butter
1 2779 1 2671
1 2573 I 2343
1 4873 1 4843
Nonfat Dry Milk 10132 10131
Dry whey 0 2357 0 2451
Source: Dam Product Prices, NASS, USDA
(http://usda matmhb.comeU.edu/reports/nassr/price/dairy/1999/).
1/ Adjusted to 39% moisture.
£
Lean Hogs
Daily Prices As of
Date
03/29/01
03/29/01
03/29/01
03/29/01
03/29/01
03/29/01
03/29/01
03/29/01
Apr 01
Jun 01
JulOl
Aug 01
Oct 01
Dec 01
Feb 02
Apr 02
Live Cattle
Daily Prices As of
Date
03/29/01 Apr 01 7870 7915*7865 7882
03/29/01 Jun 01 7290 7330 7285 7307
03/29/01 Aug 01 *7225 7240 7215 7222
03/29/01 Oct 01 7400 7427 7400 7407
03/29/01 Dec 01 7500 7515 7495 7497
03/29/01 Feb 02 7580 7600 7580 7585
03/29/01 Apr 02 7677 7695 7677 7692
Composite Volume Open lnt
03/28/01 17275 127743
Pork Bellies
Daily Prices As of
Date
03/29/01 May 01 9380 9420 9245 9290 -92
03/29/01 Jul 01 9370 9440 9265 9330 -65
03/29/01 Aug 01 9220 9245 9140 9170 -70
03/29/01 Feb 02 7960 7960 7905 7915 -60
03/29/01 Mar 02 0 8175 8175 8175 unch
Composite Volume Open Int
03/28/01 584 2755
1 2725 1 2710 12685 1.2850 1 2600
1 3280 1 3120 1 2800 1.3180 1.2900
1.6133
17-Mar-01 10-Mar-01 3-Mar-01 24-Feb-01 17-Feb-01
- Thursday, 29 March
Open High Low Last Chge
6420 6455 6375 6387
6890 6975 6890 6925
6540 6597 6540 6575
6150 6220 6150 6182
5435 5500 5420 5497
5240 5295 5235 5282
5325 5360 5290 5360
5200 5260 5200 5260
- Thursday, 29 March
Open High Low Last Chge
- Thursday, 29 March
Open High Low Last Chge „ Prev * Prev -
Volume Openjnt
428 1964
136 596
20 174
0 18
0 3
,jz • .-J&pt
61/4| 107 f
9 l/zjllO 1/2 j
1 3/4|112 3/4]
r
1191119 1/4
124
1 5050 1.5008 1 4663
1.5183
1 2408
1 1968
1 4666
1 0131
0 2408
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