The report said US butter stocks in all warehouses at the end of November 2015 sat at 132.7 million pounds and was down 26% from last month but up 23% from a year ago. Dryer said November end stocks are about 30 million pounds higher than the 5-year average for November.
Dryer said the pulldown in November of 46 million pounds was above the 5-year average for November of 39 million pounds. He added that stocks were reduced in October by just 8.7 million, far less than the typical reduction of 30 million pounds so it was expected for some "catch up" to occur in November to restock retail shelves he said.
The USDA report said that total natural cheese stocks were down slightly from October but up 13% from the previous year to end November with 1.145 billion pounds.
American cheese stocks remain well above 5-year average stocks for November. Just under 700 million pounds versus 616 million pounds, Dryer said. End of November stocks are 10% higher than year ago levels.
"American cheese stocks actually increased (plus 1.7 million pounds) against a 5-year average decrease of 7.9 million pounds," Dryer said.
Other natural cheese stocks ended November up 19% (68 million pounds) from a year earlier and down 2.9 million pounds from a month earlier.
