The March issue of the National Milk Producers Federation and Dairy Management Inc.’s Dairy Market Report is out.

Farm milk prices and margins are falling sharply, but from such high levels that they are still near their averages in recent years. Also, U.S. prices remain stronger than those in New Zealand and Europe, which are suffering more from the slump in world dairy imports than we are. One reason we are doing better? Growing U.S. milk production and declining exports are being partially offset by strong domestic cheese and total milkfat consumption. As a result, while the average all-milk price was down $8.10 per hundredweight in January from its record four months earlier, that was still within a dollar per hundred weight of its average in years 2011 to 2013. Likewise, the farm bill margin for the month was down significantly but, at $8.34 per hundredweight, was still approximately 85 cents higher than the January average during 2011-2013.

The complete report can be found here.