THE LAND — DECEMBER 24/DECEMBER 31, 2021
MILKER’S MESSAGE www.thelandonline.com — “Where Farm and Family Meet”
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Inflation talk holds court at ADPI seminar This column was written for the marketing week ending Dec. 17. The U.S. Department of Agriculture gave us the latest on U.S. dairy product demand. Starting with cheese, October disappearance totaled 1.18 billion News and information for Minnesota and Northern Iowa dairy producers pounds, up just 0.7 percent from October 2020, with strong exports overcoming weaker domestic disappearance, buying appeared earlier than normal. He according to the Analyst. European 82 percent-fat MIELKE MARKET according to HighGround Dairy’s Lucas says that’s not overly concerning because butter traded above $3.00 per pound the week of WEEKLY Fuess in the Dec. 20 “Dairy Radio Now” butter output is weaker and inventories Dec. 6, and cheddar cheese traded between $2.20 By Lee Mielke broadcast. It was the weakest October are declining at a pretty quick pace. and $2.30 per pound. domestic disappearance since 2017, n European milk production is crashing, the Analyst according to HighGround Dairy. reported, and the latest period saw output down 3.7 Meanwhile, the big topic of the recent American American-style cheese disappearance, at 458.8 percent in the big-three milk producing regions of Dairy Products Institute’s Dairy Ingredients million pounds, was down 4.1 percent from a year Germany, France, and the United Kingdom. Seminar in Santa Barbara, Calif. was inflation, ago and down for the second consecutive month. according to the Dec. 3 Dairy and Food Market Things aren’t much better ‘down-under.’ Dairy Fuess warned that, if the domestic disappearance Analyst. Editor and analyst Matt Gould wrote that Market News reports that Australian milk output decline persists, we could prices drop after holiday attendance was high and so were spirits, as most through October, the fourth month of the season, demand subsides. attendees were bullish. continued to be disappointingly low. “October is the Butter disappearance totaled 209.8 million usual high point of seasonal milk production. While However, “Virtually everyone is experiencing sigpounds, down 1.3 percent in total and down 3.6 perthere are more seasonal months to follow than have nificant cost pressure and, looking into 2022, will cent domestically, first year over year decline since raise prices and overages on their customers,” wrote occurred so far, production will be trending lower, so June following impressive gains in third quarter. Gould. “The million-dollar question: How much of a making up for the past will be a challenge in the Exports were up 91.4 percent but only totaled 9.8 future.” cost increase can we pass on? Answers that we million pounds. heard ranged from 5 percent to 15 percent.” Season to date, the Daily Dairy Report says Fuess speculated that holiday butter demand may Dairy product prices are soaring in Europe, See MIELKE, pg. 14 have been front loaded in August and September as
