Cheese markets have been swinging this year, and with about 90 percent of Wisconsin’s milk going into cheese, those shifts can hit home.
Mike Brown, vice president for dairy market intelligence at T.C. Jacoby & Company, says cheese prices have been moving in a $0.30 range, from $1.60 to $1.90 per pound, tied closely to export demand.
“We’ve had very volatile cheese markets,” Brown says. “They basically go up and down about 30 cents from $1.60 to $1.90. And a lot of that’s got to do with our dependence on trade. All of our growth in cheese is basically being exported.”
When prices fall toward the lower end, Brown says buyers re-contract, which tightens supply and pushes prices back up until demand slows again.
Whey, a byproduct of cheese production, brings different challenges. High-protein whey products such as whey protein concentrate or isolate can be profitable, but many Wisconsin plants don’t have the scale or equipment to make them. Instead, they sell liquid whey to other processors, which is costly to haul and earns little return.
“It’s expensive to move that liquid whey,” Brown explains. “Liquid whey is about six percent solids; it’s expensive to move it, and the price in it tends to be very, very low.”
He adds that some specialty cheese plants now lose more than $3 per hundredweight on whey, compared to $1 to $1.50 in the past.
“Basically, you’re paying $3 for something that you’re getting the same 30–40 cents return out of that you got before,” he says.
Brown noted that even though Class III milk prices have come down with the Federal Milk Marketing Order update that took effect June 1, lower input costs aren’t enough to offset these losses.
“Even though the price of milk has dropped, the returns from the whey side have dropped more or gone further negative than what the milk price savings have been,” he says. “So the money simply isn’t there.”
Will the market correct itself? Brown expects to see renewed investment in whey as Wisconsin continues producing award-winning cheeses.
Listen to a recent story on butter markets: https://www.midwestfarmreport.com/2025/08/28/butter-at-lowest-spot-price-since-2021/
