The Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) uniform milk prices rose an average of $1.48 per hundredweight (cwt) from March to April for an average price of $20.03 per cwt across the 11 orders. April’s prices were the result of continued dairy demand and the ability to provide it with abundant processing capacity, a trend that carried over from March.

Coyne jenn
Jenn Coyne
Editor / Progressive Dairy

Administrators of the 11 FMMOs reported April prices and pooling data May 8-13. 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 April, uniform prices gained ground in all orders (Table 1). However, the amount by which milk prices rose varied. The Upper Midwest FMMO reported the smallest gain at 77 cents per cwt greater than March’s for a uniform milk price in April at $17.43 per cwt. Conversely, the Florida FMMO reported the largest gain of $2.49 per cwt from the previous month for an April uniform milk price of $24.04 per cwt. Seven of the orders had a uniform milk price in the $17 to $19 per cwt range, while the remaining four orders had uniform milk prices that broke through the $20 per cwt threshold.

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Comparing producer price differentials (PPDs) in April, the results were all positive (Table 1). All seven reporting orders saw an increase in PPDs month over month, but again, the extent of growth varied across those orders. The Upper Midwest FMMO recorded the smallest gain, up 11 cents to 61 cents per cwt, while the Northeast FMMO came out on top, up 77 cents to $3.43 per cwt in April. The remaining orders saw an increase in PPDs from 39 cents to 74 cents. 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.

April class prices

Milk prices in April all received a boost in the right direction as previously reported:

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  • Class I base price: 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: 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, April’s Class I prices should average $22.78 per cwt across all FMMOs as the Florida FMMO is expected to be the highest regional price at $25.46 per cwt and the Arizona FMMO 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 and used as the Class I mover in the milk pricing formula.
  • Class II: At $18.82 per cwt, the Class II price increased $1.48 per cwt from the previous month but was 40 cents below the Class II price in April 2025.
  • Class III: The April Class III price climbed 66 cents from March to $16.82 per cwt. It remained 66 cents per cwt less than the price recorded the same month a year ago.
  • Class IV: Class IV prices reached $20.22 per cwt in April, $1.28 higher than March’s Class IV price and $2.30 per cwt more than April a year ago.

The gap between April Class III and Class IV milk prices was $3.40 per cwt with incentives for depooling of the higher-priced Class IV milk from some FMMO pools. The last time the gap was this great where Class IV was the higher of was in April 2024.

Component values, tests

Butterfat and protein values were mixed in April as butterfat prices fell from $2.02 per pound in March to $1.87 per pound, and protein prices rose more than 40 cents to $2.52 per pound in April. Looking back to April 2025, the prices were the exact opposite with butterfat higher at $2.64 per pound and protein lower at $2.17 per pound.

The April value of nonfat solids rose 20 cents from $1.32 per pound in March to $1.52 per pound this month. The price of other solids once again fell, down 3 cents to 39 cents per pound.

Pooling totals

April total milk pooled volume through the 11 FMMOs was 12.58 billion pounds, a marginal increase of 131 million pounds from March. The additional pounds were found in Class III pooling as that category had a small rise of 257 million pounds comparing April to March for a total of 6,751.7 billion pounds of milk (Table 2).


The remaining class saw a decrease in the volume of milk pooled in April. For Class IV, 11.25 million less pounds of milk were pooled during the month for a total of 793.3 million pounds, although that quantity provided no percentage change from the previous month. Class I and Class II saw total pooled milk volumes fall month over month, which did trigger small percentage changes as well. In Class I, the total milk pooled was 3.315 billion pounds, down 106.5 million pounds or 0.01%. In Class II, 1.09 billion pounds of milk was represented, down 639.6 million pounds or 0.05%.

Looking ahead

In referencing FMMO advanced prices and current futures prices, May regional uniform milk prices will remain stable for dairy producers.

  • Class I: The price per cwt reached $20.15 per cwt, up $1.49 per cwt from April and up $1.78 per cwt from May of last year. May’s price was influenced by the strong market conditions seen in Class IV as nonfat dry milk prices rally to record levels.
  • Class I base price zone differentials: May’s Class I prices should average $24.27 per cwt across the orders, with the Florida FMMO to take the lead at $26.95 per cwt and the Arizona FMMO to bring up the rear at $22.75 per cwt.
  • Class I mover formula: The May Class I base skim milk price was $14.12 per cwt, up $2.12 from the previous month. The spread in the monthly advanced Class III skim milk pricing factor ($10.78 per cwt) and the advanced Class IV skim milk pricing factor ($14.12 per cwt) was $3.34 per cwt, with Class IV being used as the higher of for the Class I mover in the milk pricing formula.
  • Other class prices: May Class II, III and IV milk prices will be announced June 3. As of trading May 13, Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) May Class III milk futures price settled at $17.09 per cwt, and the Class IV milk futures price settled at $22.44 per cwt. If the Class III-IV futures prices hold, the May Class III-IV milk price gap will give incentives to continue depooling in Class IV.

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