Alternative Milk Price Series: Information for Cooperatives

摘要

Prices generated by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange spot and futures markets were used to estimate and compare with Federal Milk Market Order (FMMO) Class I base, Class III, and Class IV prices. The time period covered 36 months since the FMMO reforms went into effect in January 2000. Substantial monthly differences existed between most estimated prices and their respective FMMO counterparts. Price series covering the entire study period showed little differences between the estimated prices and their corresponding FMMO prices in terms of average price, standard deviation, and coefficient of variation.