The weighted average statistical uniform price for the Central Order #32, which includes most of Iowa and the I-29 corridor, decreased this year to $18.27 per cwt., a 26.60 percent decrease from 2022’s $23.13 average. Since implementation of Federal Order reform in 2000, the annual statistical uniform price in the Central Order has ranged from a low of $11.24 in 2002 to an all-time high of $23.13 last year. The 2023 weighted average Producer Price Differential (PPD) of $1.18 per cwt. is $0.04 more than the 2022 average. Producer marketings in the Central Order averaged 1.338 billion pounds per month during 2023, for a total of 16.053 billion pounds. This total is up 2.65 percent from 2022 and is 14.16 percent less than the record 18.700 billion pounds marketed during 2002.
Central Order marketings were the fifth highest among all federal orders in 2023, trailing the Northeast, California, Mideast, and Upper Midwest Orders.
Monthly component prices for the last 12 years are depicted by graph below. Compared with the previous year, the 2023 average butterfat price decreased 9.65 percent, the average protein price decreased by 28.81 percent, and the average other solids price decreased 59.12 percent.
The weighted average Class I utilization for the Central Order was 26.91 percent of producer receipts in 2023. The lowest annual utilization was recorded in 2002 at 26.02 percent, while Class I utilization peaked in 2007 at 38.82 percent. Central Order Class I utilization during 2023 ranked seventh among the 11 federal milk orders.
So where does Iowa fit into this dairy market. Milk production in Iowa during December 2023 totaled 500 million pounds, up 1 percent from the previous December according to the latest USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service – Milk Production report. The average number of milk cows during December, at 240,000 head, was 1,000 above last month and up 1,000 from December 2022. Monthly production per cow averaged 2,085 pounds, up 20 pounds from last December.
The USDA January Mailbox Milk Price Report shows the 2023 average of S18.30 per cwt. Down from the January price of S21.18.