Cheese Prices Go Through The Roof: MiIk Rally Coming to An End; Commodities

Gorgonzola, Camembert, Brie, or even Mozzarela. If you are a cheese lover, you know that prices have gone through the roof lately, even more than other foods, which are also very expensive (and according to the media, about to head even higher).

Milk prices rose 48% this year, more than any agricultural commodity. However, Bloomberg reports that that the rise may be about to stop as as farmers responded with record milk production.
The world’s second-largest producer is the U.S. The Department of Agriculture estimates production could rise 1.7 percent to 196B pounds in 2011.

Like you and me (at least me), others are cutting consumption, including restaurants and supermarkets, who have raised prices.

"Dairies are missing out on profits from milk’s biggest rally since at least 1996 as the surge in grain that drove world food prices to a record, contributing to protests in northern Africa and the Middle East, also boosted the cost of feeding cows. While income for grain and cotton growers will rise more than 20 percent this year, earnings at dairies may drop 13 percent, the government estimates".
"Milk futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed on March 11 at $19.65, a 32-month high. Prices fell 0.1 percent to $19.63 in electronic trading today. Prices are up 55 percent from a year earlier as importers from Mexico to China increased buying and the rebounding U.S. economy bolstered domestic demand. "

"Milk’s 2011 rally has exceeded those of all agricultural futures traded in New York and Chicago including cotton, which surged 42 percent and reached a record last week. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of 24 commodities advanced 11 percent, and the S&P 500 Index of stocks rose 3.7 percent. As of March 10, Treasuries gained 0.1 percent this year, a Bank of America Merrill Lynch index shows".

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