US: What’s up with the price of blocks and barrels?

United States

Market & Price Trends

Published Mar 22, 2024

Tridge summary

The cheese market has experienced a shift in pricing trends, with 500-pound Cheddar cheese barrels now commanding a higher per-pound price than 40-pound Cheddar cheese blocks since around February 9th. This change is largely due to fluctuations in export and world market demands, causing cheesemakers to adjust their production for either export or domestic markets. Despite a brief period where blocks regained a higher price, barrels were again selling for more at the close of Wednesday’s trading session at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.

Disclaimer: The above summary was generated by a state-of-the-art LLM model and is intended for informational purposes only. It is recommended that readers refer to the original article for more context.

Original content

The cheese market has seen an unusual trend lately. Normally, the per-pound price of 40-pound Cheddar cheese blocks is higher than 500-pound Cheddar cheese barrels. Beginning around February 9th, barrels began commanding more money per pound than blocks… and depending on the day, sometimes significantly more. Market advisor Katie Burgess with Ever.ag tells Brownfield that like most dairy products, exports and the world market are influencing prices. “There are cheesemakers out there who, when they can export cheese, they make cheese for export and when they don’t have those export orders, they make cheese for the domestic market, and a lot of times, it ends up in Chicago.” Blocks were once again commanding a larger price than barrels as of late last week, but that didn’t last. As of the close of Wednesday’s trading session at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, barrels were selling for four and a half cents a pound more than blocks. “And so, given ...

Source: Brownfield Ag