Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) regional uniform milk prices were mixed in October, with prices dipping from September peaks in many areas.

Natzke dave
Dave Natzke
Editor / Progressive Dairy

Administrators of the 11 FMMOs reported October prices and pooling data, Nov. 11-14. Here’s Progressive Dairy’s monthly review of the numbers to provide some additional transparency to your milk check.

Uniform prices, PPDs

Compared with September, October 2024 statistically uniform milk prices declined in eight of 11 FMMOs, while those with highest fluid Class I milk utilization posted small increases (Table 1). Among individual orders, the top average was $26.62 per hundredweight (cwt) in Florida, up 43 cents from September and the highest since December 2022. The low average was in the California FMMO, at $21.47 per cwt, down 98 cents from September and a three-month low.

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Adding to the price decline, base producer price differentials (PPDs) were mostly negative in nearly all applicable FMMOs in October (Table 1). Only the Northeast maintained a positive base PPD in October. However, PPDs have zone differentials, so actual amounts will be even lower within each FMMO. Milk handlers may apply PPDs and other “market adjustment factors” differently on your milk check.

For background, read: Producer price differentials and why they may be negative

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Class prices for October

As noted, only FMMO marketing areas with high Class I utilization posted small uniform milk price increases in October. That’s because while the Class I milk price rose for October, prices for all other milk classes weakened.

  • Class I base price: At $23.17 per cwt, the October 2024 advanced Class I base price was up $1.57 from September 2024 and $3.70 more than October 2023. It was the highest Class I base price since November 2022.
  • Class I base with zone differentials: Class I zone differentials are added to the base price at principal pricing points to determine the actual Class I price in each FMMO. With those additions, October Class I prices averaged approximately $25.99 per cwt across all FMMOs, ranging from a high of $28.57 per cwt in the Florida FMMO to a low of $24.97 per cwt in the Upper Midwest FMMO.
  • Class I mover formula: The spread in the monthly advanced Class III skim milk pricing factor ($10.30 per cwt) and advanced Class IV skim milk pricing factor ($9.86 per cwt) narrowed for October to 44 cents per cwt. That means – for the third time in the past four months – the current Class I mover formula positively impacted Class I prices.

Based on Progressive Dairy calculations, using the Class I mover calculated under the “higher-of” formula would have resulted in a Class I base price about 50 cents less than the actual price determined using the “average-of plus 74 cents” formula. That will reverse next month, and a change in the formula back to higher-of calculations is included in the final FMMO modernization proposal.

  • At $21.01 per cwt, the October Class II milk price was down $1.39 from September and 94 cents less than October 2023. It was the lowest since February 2023.
  • The October Class III milk price fell 49 cents from September to $22.85 per cwt. That was still up $6.01 from October 2023 and the second highest since June 2022.
  • At $20.90 per cwt, the October 2024 Class IV milk price was down $1.39 from September and was 59 cents less than October 2023. It was the lowest since May 2024.

Potentially affecting FMMO pooling (see below), the October 2024 Class III milk price was $1.95 more than the month’s Class IV milk price, providing incentives for depooling Class III milk.

Component values, tests

Contributing to the October milk class price calculations, value changes for butterfat and protein were mixed from a month earlier.

The value of butterfat fell almost 53 cents from September to under $3.09 per pound. It’s the lowest since January.

Meanwhile, the value of milk protein rose almost 40 cents to more than $3.32 per pound, the highest since June 2022.

The value of nonfat solids was up more than 5 cents at $1.16 per pound, while the value of other solids rose about 3 cents, to 37 cents per pound.

Affecting statistical uniform prices “at test,” October average butterfat and protein tests in pooled milk were higher compared to September in many FMMOs providing preliminary data. Somatic cell counts were also down slightly, providing additional price support. Butterfat, protein and somatic cell count premiums will help offset some of the declines in uniform prices.

Pooling totals

With one more marketing day compared with September, the total milk volume pooled through FMMOs in October was estimated at 10.87 billion pounds, about 190 million pounds more than the prior month. The USDA releases preliminary October milk production estimates on Nov. 20.

One more marketing day wasn’t the only factor impacting pooling volume. With the Class III milk price stronger than the Class IV milk price, Class III depooling resulted.

October Class I pooling was up about 277 million pounds from the previous month. At 3.6 billion pounds, it represented about 33% of total milk pooled. Class II pooling was up about 18 million pounds, to 1.88 billion pounds, representing about 17.3% of the total pooled.

With the price gap, October brought less Class III milk to the pool, but Class IV milk volume was again up (Table 2).


At 2.8 billion pounds, Class III pooling was down 167 million pounds from September and represented about 25.8% of the total pool. Both were near low utilization volumes and percentages established in 2020-2021, when COVID-19-related government feeding program cheese purchases pushed Class III prices well above Class IV milk prices and provided handler depooling incentives.

In contrast, October 2024 Class IV pooling increased about 62 million pounds from September, to about 2.59 billion pounds, and represented 23.8% of the total milk pooled. It was the highest volume and percentage since April 2023.

For more on pooling, depooling and repooling, read: FMMO picture clouded by depooling and In Focus: 2021 was another wild ride

Looking ahead

November uniform prices and pooling totals will be announced on Dec. 11-14. Based on FMMO advanced prices and current futures prices, monthly uniform prices are likely headed lower to end the year.

  • Class I base price: Already announced at $22.53 per cwt, the November 2024 advanced Class I base price is down 64 cents from October 2024 but still $2.78 more than November 2023.
  • Class I base with zone differentials: With the addition of Class I zone differentials, November Class I prices will average approximately $25.35 per cwt across all FMMOs, ranging from a high of $27.93 per cwt in the Florida FMMO to a low of $24.33 per cwt in the Upper Midwest FMMO.
  • Class I mover formula: The spread in the monthly advanced Class III skim milk pricing factor ($12.66 per cwt) and advanced Class IV skim milk pricing factor ($10.47 per cwt) widened for November to $2.19 per cwt. That means that the current Class I mover formula negatively impacted Class I prices.

Based on Progressive Dairy calculations, using the Class I mover calculated under the higher-of formula would have resulted in a Class I base price about 34 cents more than the actual price determined using the average-of plus 74 cents formula.

  • Other class prices: November Class II, III and IV milk prices will be announced on Dec. 4. As of trading on Nov. 14, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Class III milk futures price closed at $19.90 per cwt for November, down $2.95 from the October price. The November Class IV milk futures price closed at $21.05 per cwt, up 15 cents from October.

If Class III-IV futures prices hold, the November Class III-IV milk price gap will be $1.15 per cwt, offering a slight incentive for Class IV depooling.

Other information

Check the Progressive Dairy website later this month for milk production, cull cow marketing, risk management and Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) program margin updates.