Dairy producers’ January milk checks will be mixed, based on a preview of Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) milk class prices. Announced on Feb. 5, January 2025 FMMO Class II and Class III milk prices were up, but Class I and Class IV milk class prices were down from December.
January 2025 FMMO pooling estimates, uniform prices and producer price differentials (PPDs) will be released on Feb. 11-14 and summarized by Feb. 17. Watch Progressive Dairy’s website for an update.
January class prices
Class prices announced on Feb. 5 were:
- At $21.58 per hundredweight (cwt), the January Class II milk price is up 30 cents from December and $1.54 more than January 2024.
- The January Class III milk price jumped $1.72 from December to $20.34 per cwt. It’s a three-month high and up $5.17 from January 2024.
- At $20.73 per cwt, the January 2025 Class IV milk price is down a penny from December but $1.34 more than January 2024.
Potentially affecting FMMO pooling, the gap between January 2025 Class III and Class IV milk prices fell to just 39 cents per cwt, the slimmest spread since March 2023 and virtually eliminating incentives for depooling Class IV milk.
January FMMO blend prices will be weakened by a lower advanced Class I base price, previously announced at $20.38 per cwt, down $1.05 from December 2024.
Butterfat, protein values increase
Contributing to the January milk class price calculations, values for butterfat and protein were both up from a month earlier.
The value of butterfat rose about 3.5 cents per pound from December to about $2.95 per pound.
Meanwhile, the value of milk protein jumped more than 36 cents per pound from December to about $2.33 per pound, a four-month high.
Compared to December, the January value of nonfat solids was down about 1.5 cents at $1.20 per pound, while the value of other solids rose about 9 cents to 53.8 cents per pound.
Looking ahead
Based on FMMO advanced prices and current futures prices, the outlooks for February regional uniform milk prices are mixed.
Already announced, the February 2025 advanced Class I base price is $21.27 per cwt, up 89 cents from January.
February 2025 Class II, III and IV milk prices will be announced on March 5. As of trading on Feb. 4, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Class III milk futures price closed at $20.28 per cwt for February, down 6 cents from the January price. The February Class IV milk futures price closed at $20.08 per cwt, down 65 cents from January.
If Class III-IV futures prices hold, the February Class III-IV milk price gap will shrink to 20 cents per cwt, further reducing incentives for either Class III or Class IV depooling.
