U.S. cheddar-cheese prices plunged the most since December 2008 as grocers slowed purchases after stockpiling most of what they will need for the year-end holidays.
The 40-pound blocks of cheddar traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange plunged 7.7 percent to $1.8325 a pound after touching a three-month high of $2 on Nov. 15. Prices still are up 27 percent from a year ago. Retail costs rose to a record $5.707 a pound in September, up 21 percent from a year earlier, Bureau of Labor Statistics data show.
“Buyers purchased all the product they needed ahead of the upcoming holiday season and will wait for lower prices,” Bill Brooks, a dairy economist for INTL FCStone Inc. in Kansas City, said in a telephone interview. “Demand dried up with $2 cheese prices.”
U.S. milk production climbed to 16.23 billion pounds (7.362 billion kilograms) in October, up 2.1 percent from a year earlier, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a report. The dairy herd rose 1.1 percent to 9.219 million cows, while the average cow produced 1,760 pounds of milk, up 1 percent, the USDA said.
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