If we’re just looking at volume, the export outlook for the second half of 2024 and early 2025 is generally steady, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
We have seen some very dramatic fluctuations in dairy farm input costs in the past four years, and while some costs have come down, not all of them have and most remain elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels.
The Chicago Mercantile corn contract traded over $7.00 the first week of May, which is the first time we’ve seen that since 2013. Dairy futures, and maybe even spot prices, have been pulled higher by the increasing feed prices.
With all 10,000 of our lakes here in Minnesota currently frozen solid, this may be a strange analogy, but dairy prices move like the waves rippling out from a rock thrown in the water.