For the Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program, the USDA announced May’s margin at $10.62 per hundredweight (cwt), the highest margin for program year 2026 to date. With the margin $1.12 per cwt above the $9.50 trigger, no indemnities were paid out at any of the coverage levels. May’s margin was 8 cents above the prior…
Based on the most recent Milk Production report, the U.S. milk production totaled 20.6 billion pounds for May, a 2.3 percent increase from May 2025. Averaging 2.128 pounds, May’s monthly output per cow experienced a modest 8-pound growth year over year. The U.S. milking herd reached 9.67 million head, up 184,000 head from May 2025…
Based on the June World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE) report, the 2026 milk production estimate increased by 4.7 billion from 2025 to 236.4 billion pounds for 2026, up from May’s forecast. For 2026, whey, nonfat dry milk (NFDM), and cheese prices were down from the prior month’s projections. Butter demand is expected to…
Based on the most recent USDA Dairy Products report, April’s total cheese output reached 1.27 billion pounds, up 1.7 year over year and 0.3 percent month over month. Italian type cheese production was up 4.2 percent from April 2025 and 2.5 percent from March 2026 to 556 million pounds for April 2026. Mozzarella production increased…
For the Dairy Margin Coverage program, the USDA announced April’s margin to be $10.54 per hundredweight (cwt), a high for program year 2026 so far. With the margin being $1.04 per cwt above the $9.50 trigger, no indemnities were paid out to participating dairies. April’s margin was 97 cents above the prior month’s $9.57 per…
Based on the most recent USDA Milk Production report, U.S. milk output totaled 20.0 billion pounds for April, up 2.7 percent from the same month the prior year. Monthly production per cow averaged 2,069 pounds, a 14-pound increase from April 2024. The number of milk cows on farms was 9.65 million head, up 190,000 head…
After the most recent trading event on May 19, the Global Dairy Trade (GDT) Price Index rose 0.6 percent from the prior event and reported an average winning price of $4,198 per metric ton (MT). The butter GDT Price Index was up 2.5 percent from the prior auction’s price of $5,525, landing at $5,674 per…
Based on the most recent USDA Dairy Products report, for March 2026, total cheese output reached 1.26 billion pounds, up 1.2 percent from March 2025 and up 8.1 percent from February. American type cheese production totaled 488 million pounds, 2.3 percent above March 2025 and 7.4 percent above last month’s output. Italian type cheese production…
The USDA announced March’s margin is $9.57 per hundredweight (cwt) for the Dairy Margin Coverage program. At the $9.50 coverage level, participating dairies did not receive indemnities. For program year 2026, this will be the first month when the margin was above the $9.50 trigger, resulting in no payments. March’s margin was up $1.11 per…
According to the most recent USDA Cold Storage report, March’s total natural cheese stocks increased 1 percent month over month but were down 2 percent year over year. Butter stocks climbed 13 percent from the prior month’s levels. However, they fell 11 percent from the same month the prior year. While cheese inventories remain more…
