Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) regional uniform milk prices continued to fall in November, in many cases hitting multiyear lows.
Across all orders, uniform prices declined an average of 98 cents per hundredweight (cwt) compared to October, with declines of $1 or more per cwt in five of 11 FMMOs.
Administrators of the 11 FMMOs reported November prices and pooling data Dec. 11-12. Here’s Progressive Dairy’s monthly review of the numbers to provide some additional transparency to your milk check.
Uniform milk prices, PPDs
While not an indicator of specific milk prices received by producers, regional uniform prices are a measure of the baseline to calculate milk check levels. In reviewing individual orders for November (Table 1), uniform prices in all 11 FMMOs reached new lows for the year, with seven of 11 falling below $17 per cwt.
The California FMMO reported another $1.05 decline from October, to $14.76 per cwt. Central, Pacific Northwest, Southwest and Arizona FMMOs also saw uniform prices fall below $16 per cwt. Mideast and Upper Midwest FMMOs recorded uniform milk prices for November at $16.52 and $16.62 per cwt, respectively.
Comparing producer price differentials (PPDs) in November, all affected FMMOs posted declines, with only the Northeast FMMO remaining slightly positive (Table 1). PPDs have zone differentials, and milk handlers may also apply PPDs and other “market adjustment factors” differently to the milk check.
Class prices for November
Most November milk class prices were lower in comparison to the month prior:
- Class I base price: The November 2025 advanced Class I base price was $16.75 per cwt, down $1.29 from October and the lowest since September 2021. It was $5.78 per cwt less than November 2024.
- Class I base price zone differentials: Class I zone differentials are added to the base price principal pricing points to determine the actual Class I price in each FMMO. With those additions, November’s Class I prices averaged $20.87 per cwt across all FMMOs. The highest price was in the Florida FMMO at $23.55 per cwt, and the lowest price was $19.35 per cwt in the Arizona FMMO.
- Class I mover formula: November’s base skim milk price for Class I was $10.62 per cwt, an increase of 59 cents from October but $1.69 per cwt lower than the base Class I skim milk price in November 2024. The spread in the monthly advanced Class III milk pricing factor ($10.62 per cwt) and advanced Class IV skim milk pricing factor ($8.15 per cwt) was $2.47, a $1.70 change from last month with Class III on top again. The advanced butterfat pricing factor was $1.86 per pound, a 53-cent fall from October to November.
- At $14.54 per cwt, the November Class II milk price was down $1.48 from October and down $6.98 from November a year ago. It was the lowest since February 2021.
- The November Class III milk price rose 27 cents from the previous month to $17.18 per cwt. It was still $2.77 per cwt less than November 2024.
- At $13.89 per cwt, the November Class IV milk price was down 41 cents from October and down $7.23 from same month a year ago.
Component values, tests
The values of butterfat and protein again moved in opposite directions in November. Butterfat fell to $1.7061 per pound, down almost 12 cents from October and $1.20 less than the value of $2.91 per pound one year ago. It was the lowest butterfat value since February 2021.
Meanwhile, the value of milk protein settled at $3.0143 per pound in November, climbing almost 14 cents from October and reaching the highest point since October 2024, when the value peaked at $3.3238 per pound.
The November value of nonfat solids was 91 cents per pound, up just slightly from October but still the second lowest since November 2020. Other solids inched about a nickel higher to 38.6 cents per pound.
Influencing statistical uniform prices “at test,” November’s average butterfat and protein tests in pooled milk were up slightly in all FMMOs providing preliminary data. Somatic cell counts in the few FMMOs reporting monthly averages were slightly less in November compared to October.
Pooling totals
As in October, the November uniform price decline was in part the result of the drop in the value of butterfat and Class IV milk, resulting in depooling of higher-valued Class III milk.
The total milk volume pooled through FMMOs in November was 10.1 billion pounds, about 983 million pounds less than in October. A majority of that FMMO pooling decline came in Class III milk.
With lower total milk pooled, Class I pooled milk dipped 210 million pounds in November, to 3.38 billion pounds, yet increased by 1.1% of the total pool to 33.4% Similarly, Class II pooling fell 170 million pounds in November to 1.824 billion pounds, yet again represented about 18% of the total pool.
Class IV pooling increased 4.2% (182 million pounds) to 2.913 billion pounds from October.
In contrast, November Class III pooling fell 5.3% (about 785 million pounds), bringing the monthly total down to 2.003 billion pounds, a multiyear low (Table 2).
Looking ahead
Based on FMMO advanced prices and current futures prices, the outlook for December regional uniform milk prices is mixed and remains low.
- Class I base price: As announced previously, the advanced Class I base price rebounded in December 2025, rising $1.46 per hundredweight (cwt) from November’s low to hit $18.21 per cwt. Despite the increase, the December 2025 Class I base price is $3.22 per cwt less than December 2024 and the lowest for that month since 2018.
- Class I base price zone differentials: Class I zone differentials are added to the base price principal pricing points to determine the actual Class I price in each FMMO. With those additions, December’s Class I prices should average about $22.33 per cwt across all FMMOs. The highest price is in the Florida FMMO at $25.01 per cwt, and the lowest price is $20.81 per cwt in the Arizona FMMO.
- Class I mover formula: The December 2025 Class I base skim milk price was $12.74 per cwt, an increase of $2.12 cents from November 2025 and $1.76 per cwt higher than December 2024. The spread in the monthly advanced Class III skim milk pricing factor ($12.74 per cwt) and advanced Class IV skim milk pricing factor ($8.49 per cwt) was $4.25, widening $1.78 from November, with Class III being the “higher-of” and used as the Class I mover in the milk pricing formula. The advanced butterfat pricing factor was $1.69 per pound, a 17-cent fall from November to December.
- Other class prices: December 2025 Class II, III and IV milk prices will be announced on Dec. 31. As of trading on Dec. 11, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) December Class III milk futures price settled at $15.87 per cwt, down $1.31 per cwt from November’s price. The December Class IV milk futures price closed at just $13.77 per cwt, down 12 cents from November. If Class III-IV futures prices hold, the December Class III-IV milk price gap will be $2.10 per cwt, still providing incentives for Class III depooling and pressuring uniform prices.
Other information
- With the government shutdown over, the USDA updated milk production and price summaries and forecasts.
- For those tracking Dairy Margin Coverage (DMC) margins, the next date on the USDA Calendar for the USDA Ag Prices report is Dec. 15, and will likely contain September/October prices impacting DMC margins. As of Dec. 12, the September DMC margin forecast is $10.42 per cwt and the October DMC margin forecast is $9.86 per cwt.
Then, according to the USDA schedule, things get back to “normal" and November prices are released Dec. 31, followed by the release of December 2025 prices on Jan. 30, 2026. November-December DMC forecast margins were unchanged from earlier this week: $9.31 for November and $8.30 for December.
