This weekend’s impending winter storm isn’t the only blanket of white settling across the U.S. Milk production continues to surge across the country with production rising to 19.568 billion pounds in December. This represents a 4.4% increase over the same month last year and means that when full year data was tallied, U.S. producers made 2.8% more milk in 2025 than during the prior year, after accounting for leap day. Most states saw production rise, but the biggest increase

The dairy markets have been swamped under a tidal wave of milk and are now fumbling around for the bottom. After catching a quick breath last week, spot nonfat dry milk (NDM) slipped back under the surface, falling a penny to $1.255. CME spot butter bounced back from multi-year lows, climbing 5.5ȼ to $1.355 per pound. And CME spot Cheddar blocks continued to sink, falling 2.5ȼ to $1.29. Meanwhile, whey remained buoyant. Spot whey powder rallied 3.5ȼ to 73.5ȼ.

The milk powder market is bulking up for the new year. It strengthened every day so far in 2026. The unexpected rally propelled CME spot nonfat dry milk to $1.265 per pound today, up 9ȼ for the week to its highest perch since mid-August. It’s unusual to see milk powder prices climb amid a rapid increase in U.S. milk output. But the dramatic expansion in U.S. dairy processing capacity has reduced the need for balancing. In October, U.S. milk powder output slumped to 148.9 mill

The ball has dropped, the confetti has settled, and the calendar page has officially flipped to 2026. But if you are searching for new year optimism, you may have to look beyond the dairy markets. The market tone remains decidedly bearish as plentiful milk supplies continue to outpace demand.

The U.S. dairy industry is drowning in butterfat. In October, America’s dairy herd cranked out 3.7% more milk than the year before, and cream production soared 5.9% year over year. On Monday, USDA will publish a fresh round of milk production data, and even greater gains are likely. It will be easy to beat November 2024 figures, when avian influenza dragged California milk output down 7.9% compared to November 2023. National average milk output was 0.3% lower than the year be