April 19

4/19 – Ding-dong the witch is dead. Last week the USDA ended its Farmers to Families Food Box (FFFB) program. Last year, the USDA pumped $3.8B into a program that absolutely terrorized dairy markets. In 2020, CME block cheese started the year at $1.90/lb, dropped to all-time lows of $1.00 (4/15), hit all-time highs of $3.00 (7/13), dropped back to $1.58 (8/11), rebounded to $2.78 (10/30), then fell again to $1.57 (12/2) before finishing the year at $1.64. Neither users nor producers want to see that kind of volatility again in 2021. Dairy prices have been on the rise since mid-March with expectations for more FFFB purchases and restocking for recovering restaurant demand. But FFFB cancellation stopped that cold. From Mon-Fri last week, block fell from $1.86 to $1.78/lb; butter from $1.90 to $1.85/lb; and Class III milk futures from $17.86/cwt to $17.64.