CME:DC Class III Milk Futures prices chart

Class III Milk Futures (CME:DC) :
Product Code: CME Globex: DC, CME ClearPort: DA, Clearing: DA

Contract Unit: 200,000 pounds (2,000 hundredweight (cwt))
Price Quotation: U.S. dollars and cents per cwt
Minimum Price Fluctuation: 0.01 per cwt. = $20.00
Settlement Method: Financially Settled

Listed Contracts: Monthly contracts listed for 24 consecutive months

Termination Of Trading: Trading terminates at 12:10 p.m. CT on the business day prior to the USDA announcement of the weighted average price for Class III Milk.

Trading Hours:
(1) CME Globex: Sunday - Friday 5:00 p.m. - 1:55 p.m. CT with a daily trading halt from 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. CT
(2) CME ClearPort: Sunday 5:00 p.m. - Friday 5:45 p.m. CT with no reporting Monday - Thursday from 5:45 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. CT



4 Milk Classes under the Federal Milk Order System:

CLASS I - Milk used for beverages including eggnog and ultra-high temperature (UHT) milk.

CLASS II - Milk used for soft products. This includes cottage cheese, ricotta cheese, pot cheese, Creole cheese, milk shake and ice milk mixes, frozen desserts, aerated cream, frozen cream, sour cream, half-n-half, yogurt, custards, puddings, pancake mixes, batter, buttermilk biscuit mixes, infant or dietary formulas packaged in hermetically sealed containers, candy, soup and bakery products for general distribution to the public including sweetened condensed milk used for manufacture of aforesaid products, and fluid cream or any product containing artificial fat or fat substitutes that resemble fluid cream.

CLASS III - Milk used in the manufacture of cream cheese and other spreadable cheeses, and hard cheese of types that may be shredded, grated, or crumbled. It also includes plastic cream, anhydrous milkfat, and butteroil.

CLASS IV - Milk used to produce butter, any milk product in dry form and evaporated or sweetened condensed milk in a consumer-type package.


4 Milk classes within Federal Milk Marketing Orders (FMMOs):

Class I – The milk we drink or use in cereal. About 30.7 percent of the year's total production.

Class II – The Milk used to make soft dairy products like yogurt, ice cream or sour cream. About 13.5 percent of the year's total production.

Class III – The Milk used for most types of cheese and whey. About 41.7 percent of the year's total production.

Class IV – The Milk used to make Butter, butter-based spreads and dry products like whole milk powder and nonfat dry milk. About 14 percent of the year's total production.


Milk Class III in commodities market:
Milk Class III refers to all Grade A and Grade B milk which is used in the manufacture of products.