Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) uniform milk prices climbed $1.14 per hundredweight (cwt) in March for an average price of $18.55 per cwt across all 11 orders. The price increase is a sign of the continued ability of the market to absorb milk at a time where milk production is rising and processors are quickly filling up, especially with the spring flush underway. Much of this milk is being made into cheese, butter and milk powder.

Coyne jenn
Jenn Coyne
Editor / Progressive Dairy

Administrators of the 11 FMMOs reported March prices and pooling data April 9-13. Here’s Progressive Dairy’s monthly review of the numbers to provide some additional transparency to your milk check.

Uniform milk prices, PPDs

Regional uniform milk prices are used as a baseline measurement to calculate milk check levels, although not an indicator of the specific milk prices received by producers. In March, uniform prices rose in every order (Table 1). The smallest month-over-month price improvement was by 56 cents in the Pacific Northwest Order to land a uniform milk price of $17.03 per cwt, while the Arizona Order posted a $1.86 per cwt price improvement – the largest rise across orders – for a March uniform milk price of $18.12 per cwt.

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With the revisions to the milk pricing formula last year, the Florida Order remained the highest uniform milk price in March at $21.55 per cwt. Both the Southeast Order and Appalachian Order followed with prices at $20.95 per cwt and $20.64 per cwt, respectively. The lowest uniform milk price for March was recorded in the Upper Midwest Order at $16.66 per cwt, but was up $1.14 per cwt from the month prior. The remaining orders all fell in the $17- to $18-per-cwt range.

Comparing producer price differentials (PPDs) in March, the results were mixed (Table 1). Four orders saw a decrease in PPDs month over month, including the California Order down 4 cents, the Upper Midwest Order down 8 cents, the Southwest Order down 9 cents and the Pacific Northwest Order down 66 cents. The remaining orders reporting PPDs were all positive changes from February to March. PPDs have zone differentials, meaning some PPDs could be negative, and milk handlers may also apply PPDs and other “market adjustment factors” differently to the milk check.

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Class prices for March

The milk prices moved in the right direction for all classes in March:

  • Class I base price: The March advanced Class I base price rose 77 cents to reach $15.47 per cwt. While up from February, the March price was $5.55 per cwt lower than March 2025.
  • 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, March’s Class I prices should average $19.59 per cwt across all orders. The highest regional price is in the Florida FMMO at $22.27 per cwt, and the lowest price is $18.07 per cwt in the Arizona FMMO.
  • Class I mover formula: The March Class I base skim milk price was $9.91 per cwt, down 8 cents from the month prior. The spread in the monthly advanced Class III milk pricing factor ($9.10 per cwt) and advanced Class IV skim milk pricing factor ($9.91 per cwt) was 81 cents, with Class IV being the “higher of” in March and used as the Class I mover in the milk pricing formula.
  • Class II: At $17.34 per cwt, the Class II price per cwt increased $2 from February but remained $2.78 per cwt below the Class II price in March 2025.
  • Class III: The March Class III price jumped $1.22 from February to $16.16 per cwt. It is $2.46 per cwt less than the price recorded the same month a year ago.
  • Class IV: Class IV prices rose the highest, up $2.65 per cwt from a month prior and were 73 cents above March 2025’s price.

The gap between March Class III and Class IV milk prices was $2.78 per cwt, with incentives for depooling of the once again higher-priced Class IV milk from some FMMO pools.

Component values, tests

The values of butterfat and protein moved favorably in March with butterfat prices reaching $2.02 per pound, up 24 cents from February, and protein prices settling at $2.10 per pound, up 16 cents from the previous month. In comparing the values to that of 2025, this year’s March butterfat price is 60 cents below that of the year prior. The price of protein is 36 cents lower.

The March value of nonfat solids rose 20 cents from February to $1.32 per pound. The price of other solids fell 2 cents to 42 cents per pound.

Influencing statistical uniform prices “at test,” March’s average butterfat and protein tests in pooled milk were down marginally in FMMOs providing preliminary data. Somatic cell counts in the few FMMOs reporting monthly averages were also down in March compared to February.

Pooling totals

In March, the total milk volume pooled through FMMOs was 12.45 billion pounds, up 1.85 billion from February.

On a volume basis, Class IV was the sole class to see a decrease in the amount of milk pooled in March compared to the month prior. At 804.6 million pounds of milk pooled, Class IV was down 48 million pounds from February and made up 6.5% of all the total pooled milk in March (Table 2). Class III made up the largest percentage of pooled milk in March at 52.2% or 6.49 billion pounds. In comparing Class III in March to February, the pooling total was up 1.54 billion pounds or 0.05%.


The remaining milk was pooled in Class I at 27.5% or 3.42 billion pounds and Class II at 13.9% or 1.73 billion pounds. While both classes posted a very small decrease in pooled milk on a percentage basis, both down 0.02%, Class I reported a volume increase of 268.4 million pounds, and Class II pooling was up 80.38 million pounds.

Looking ahead

Based on FMMO advanced prices and current futures prices, April regional uniform milk prices will continue riding on the tails of positive market dynamics.

  • Class I: The price per cwt increased $3.19 from March for a Class I base price of $18.66 per cwt, and for the first time all year, the price difference from 2025 was less than $1.
  • Class I base price zone differentials: April’s Class I prices should average $22.78 per cwt across all FMMOs with zone differentials as the Florida Order is expected to be the highest regional price at $25.46 per cwt, and the Arizona Order the lowest at $21.26 per cwt.
  • Class I mover formula: The April Class I base skim milk price was $12 per cwt, up $2.09 from the previous month. The spread in the monthly advanced Class III skim milk pricing factor ($9.14 per cwt) and advanced Class IV skim milk pricing factor ($12 per cwt) was $2.86 per cwt, with Class IV once again being the “higher of” in March and used as the Class I mover in the milk pricing formula.
  • Other class prices: April Class II, III and IV milk prices will be announced Wednesday, April 29. As of trading April 14, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) April Class III milk futures price settled at $16.97 per cwt, while the Class IV milk futures price closed at $20.20 per cwt. If the Class III-IV futures prices hold, the April Class III-IV milk price gap will be $3.23 with incentives to depool in Class IV.

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