# Class III and IV move toward alignment in July milk prices | Ag Proud

> The USDA July Announcement of Class and Component Prices showed Class III and Class IV milk prices narrowing toward each other, with the gap under $3/cwt for the first time since March. The July advanced Class I base price fell 85 cents to $21.33/cwt, and Class II, III and IV prices all declined from June, with Class IV dropping $2.62.

- Date: 2026-08-05 · published 2026-08-05T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: report · region US · magnitude medium
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/4734-class-iii-and-iv-move-toward-alignment-in-july-milk-prices-ag-proud
- Commodities: [Milk (Class III)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/MILK.md)

## Why it matters

Narrowing class spreads reflect softening cheese and butter demand against ample milk supply, pressuring farm milk checks. Lower class prices weigh on dairy feed demand expectations.

## Read by commodity

- MILK: bearish ▼

## Linked price moves

| Commodity | Date | Window | Change % | z-score | Why linked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MILK | 2026-08-05 | 1 | +7.2% | 8.9 | The July class price announcement on Aug 5 coincided with the move, and Class III and IV prices converging may have prompted repositioning, though lower July prices were largely known and are not clearly bullish. |

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MILK | 2025-07-31 | [Class III milk price stumbles, Class IV climbs in July \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/23896-class-iii-milk-price-stumbles-class-iv-climbs-in-july-ag-proud.md) | +1.6% | +1.8% |
| MILK | 2025-03-06 | [February 2025 Class II, III and IV milk prices lower \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/4704-february-2025-class-ii-iii-and-iv-milk-prices-lower-ag-proud.md) | +1.8% | -6.1% |
| MILK | 2026-07-01 | [Milk class prices shrink in June report \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/8574-milk-class-prices-shrink-in-june-report-ag-proud.md) | -2.7% | -1.4% |
| MILK | 2021-08-04 | [Weekly Digest: July Class III-IV milk prices lower, spread shrinks - Progressive Dairy \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/45572-weekly-digest-july-class-iii-iv-milk-prices-lower-spread-shrinks-progressive.md) | -1.6% | -2.8% |
| MILK | 2025-12-03 | [November 2025 milk class prices mostly lower \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/4087-november-2025-milk-class-prices-mostly-lower-ag-proud.md) | -6.9% | -11.3% |

## Sources

- agproud.com: https://www.agproud.com/articles/63921-class-iii-and-iv-move-toward-alignment-in-july-milk-prices

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