# Opportunity knocks — will you answer the door?

> Class III dairy prices swung $5 per cwt or more month to month in 2020, with COVID-era food box buying lifting prices. Block cheese peaked at $2.78 in early November before falling more than a dollar, and barrels dropped to $1.40 as fresh cheese demand dried up.

- Date: 2020-12-04 · published 2020-12-04T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: policy · region US · magnitude medium
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/4227-opportunity-knocks-will-you-answer-the-door
- Commodities: [Milk (Class III)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/MILK.md)

## Why it matters

The end of government cheese buying combined with new cheese capacity points to weaker dairy prices and continued volatility, reducing milk value for dairy-linked feed demand.

## Read by commodity

- MILK: bearish ▼

## Linked price moves

| Commodity | Date | Window | Change % | z-score | Why linked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MILK | 2020-12-08 | 5 | -33.2% | -4.7 | Block cheese fell more than $1 from its $2.78 early-November peak and barrels dropped to $1.40 as fresh cheese demand faded, which directly drives Class III lower. |
| MILK | 2020-12-02 | 5 | -34.4% | -4.8 | Block cheese fell more than a dollar from its $2.78 peak and barrels dropped to $1.40 as fresh cheese demand dried up, directly explaining the Class III plunge. |
| MILK | 2020-12-02 | 1 | -34.7% | -16.1 | It describes block cheese falling more than $1 from its early-November peak and barrels dropping to $1.40 as fresh cheese demand dried up, which is the cash-price weakness that drags Class III lower; it is dated 12/4, after the move, so it is explanatory context only. |

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MILK | 2017-02-08 | [Back in the pool: DFA seeks flexibility in Northeast federal milk marketing order -  \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/72655-back-in-the-pool-dfa-seeks-flexibility-in-northeast-federal-milk-marketing.md) | +0.6% | -5.4% |
| MILK | 2020-08-05 | [Large Negative PPDs on Milk - AG INFORMATION NETWORK OF THE WEST](https://feedsoft.ai/events/8832-large-negative-ppds-on-milk-ag-information-network-of-the-west.md) | -21.0% | -19.2% |
| MILK | 2024-11-25 | [“By The Middle Of Next Year, Expansions To US Cheese Processing Are Expected To Boost Cheese Output By Nearly 20 Million Pounds Per Day." - EDairy News English](https://feedsoft.ai/events/27554-by-the-middle-of-next-year-expansions-to-us-cheese-processing-are-expected-to.md) | -0.1% | -6.1% |
| MILK | 2020-12-01 | [News for Dairy Co-ops - December 2020 - NMPF](https://feedsoft.ai/events/4225-news-for-dairy-co-ops-december-2020-nmpf.md) | -33.9% | -32.3% |
| MILK | 2023-04-14 | [Initiating Federal Order Reform - Cheese Reporter](https://feedsoft.ai/events/36570-initiating-federal-order-reform-cheese-reporter.md) | -0.1% | -12.8% |

## Sources

- hoards.com: https://hoards.com/article-29197-Opportunity-knocks-mdash-will-you-answer-the-door.html

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Data from Feedsoft AI (https://feedsoft.ai/). For information only; not investment advice.