# Milk prices rising is not an April Fools’ joke | Ag Proud

> The USDA's March Federal Milk Marketing Order Class I base price rose 77 cents to $15.47/cwt, and March Class II, III and IV prices all climbed more than $1 from February. The March Class III price reached $16.16/cwt and Class IV rose $2.65 to a higher level. Prices remain well below March 2025 levels.

- Date: 2026-04-01 · published 2026-04-01T12:00:00.000Z
- Category: report · region US · magnitude medium
- Page: https://feedsoft.ai/events/6423-milk-prices-rising-is-not-an-april-fools-joke-ag-proud
- Commodities: [Milk (Class III)](https://feedsoft.ai/c/MILK.md)

## Why it matters

Higher class prices improve producer milk checks and point to firmer raw milk values across the US market. Stronger milk prices raise the cost of dairy-based feed ingredients and dairy-linked demand signals for feed buyers.

## Read by commodity

- MILK: bullish ▲

## Linked price moves

| Commodity | Date | Window | Change % | z-score | Why linked |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MILK | 2026-04-02 | 5 | +9.9% | 3.3 | March Class III announced at $16.16, up more than $1 from February, which reinforced the price strength and supported futures. |
| MILK | 2026-04-01 | 1 | +8.6% | 5.1 | The March Class I, II, III and IV prices announced on 2026-04-01 all rose more than $1 from February, which supports the futures rally through a stronger spot price signal. |
| MILK | 2026-04-01 | 5 | +9.8% | 3.7 | March FMMO Class III rose more than $1 to $16.16, confirming strong spot cheese/whey pricing and lifting futures sentiment. |
| MILK | 2026-03-31 | 1 | +8.6% | 5.1 | March Class III/IV announced prices rose over $1 from February, confirming a firming price trend, though the announcement came around the move and is partly a lagging indicator. |

## Similar past events

| Commodity | Date | Event | 5-day % | 20-day % |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| MILK | 2026-05-14 | [April uniform milk prices, PPDs rise \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/19417-april-uniform-milk-prices-ppds-rise-ag-proud.md) | -0.9% | -6.3% |
| MILK | 2025-06-05 | [May milk prices to strengthen following disappointing April \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/24381-may-milk-prices-to-strengthen-following-disappointing-april-ag-proud.md) | +0.5% | -7.2% |
| MILK | 2017-03-01 | [Milk prices, margins held in January -  \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/5044-milk-prices-margins-held-in-january-ag-proud.md) | -5.5% | -6.2% |
| MILK | 2026-04-16 | [Uniform milk prices are firm heading into spring flush \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/19712-uniform-milk-prices-are-firm-heading-into-spring-flush-ag-proud.md) | -0.8% | +0.7% |
| MILK | 2024-02-29 | [February FMMO milk class prices inch higher \| Ag Proud](https://feedsoft.ai/events/5460-february-fmmo-milk-class-prices-inch-higher-ag-proud.md) | -4.1% | -4.8% |

## Sources

- agproud.com: https://www.agproud.com/articles/63245-milk-prices-rising-is-not-an-april-fools-joke

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