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  Dairy Product Prices

 

PURPOSE

Dairy Products Prices statistics are collected weekly and used by USDA to assist in the determination of the fair market value of raw milk. The "Dairy Market Enhancement Act of 2000", U.S. Code Title 7, Section 1627, required mandatory reporting of the price, and quantity of cheddar cheese, butter, nonfat dry milk, and dry whey. Moisture content is also required under mandatory reporting of cheddar cheese.  A final rule was published in the Federal Register on June 17, 2008 (73 FR 34175), which revised the Dairy Product Mandatory Reporting Program.  Statistics from the Dairy Products Prices survey are used by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to implement the National Dairy Support Program.

COVERAGE

The Dairy Products Prices survey is a national program conducted weekly in selected states. The scope of the survey includes cheese plants, butter plants, nonfat dry milk plants, and dry whey plants that commercially produce 1 million or more pounds of these manufactured dairy products. Detailed criteria have been established to allow standard price discovery for current sales that best represent current price trends in the market. Because of the specific criteria for sales to qualify as usable data, sales volumes are a subset of the universe of national production.

CONTENT

Dairy products manufacturers provide data for prices and volume of sales for cheddar cheese, nonfat dry milk, butter, and dry whey, as well as barrel cheddar cheese moisture content. The data are collected as weekly totals of pounds sold and dollars received.

FREQUENCY

The survey is conducted weekly and reporting is required by law. An Annual Validation is conducted to determine all eligible reporters and providing them with the required reporting instructions.

METHODS

The Dairy Products Prices survey universe is all facilities in the United States that produce 1 million pounds or more of the specified dairy products commercially. Data collected for the latest week are published the following Friday. Facsimile, telephone, and web-based reporting are used to speed movement of data from respondents.

PRODUCTS

Data are collected for cheddar cheese in 40 pound blocks and 500 pound barrels, butter, nonfat dry milk, and dry whey for human consumption.


USES

The primary use of the dairy products prices statistics are by USDA to assist in the determination of the fair market value of raw milk. Producers also use the information to determine production and marketing strategies. Producer organizations, financial institutions, traders, national policymakers, and foreign buyers and sellers are other important data users. Economists, analysts, and researchers interpret production data to projects past and future price trends.

SPECIAL FEATURES


RELATED PROGRAMS

Dairy Products
Milk Production

 

 


Last modified: 06/03/09