Delayed USDA report reveals 'shocking' level of butter stocks

The Dec. 31, 2018, butter stocks totaled a surprising 179.3 million pounds, up a whopping 16.6 percent from November and 6.2 percent above December 2017, according to the delayed U.S. Department of Agriculture Cold Storage report issued Feb. 22. FC Stone dairy broker Dave Kurzawski says that’s a shocking 42 million pounds heavier than pre-report expectations and over 1,000 truckloads but adds the caveat that “these numbers are more than 60 days old. If the number was incredibly burdensome, we think the markets would have felt it already. This leads us to think revisions following a government shut-down are likely.” The January Cold Storage report will be issued March 7.The U.S. had less cheese on hand than expected. American cheese stocks were up 7 percent from a year ago and Kurzawski says, “What’s a little odd is that the usual build from November to December was nonexistent.”