NEW DELHI, March 9 -- The Agriculture Department announced the February Federal order Class III benchmark milk price at $13.89 per hundredweight, down 7 cents from January but 49 cents above February 2018 and the first month that the Class III price topped the previous year's price since November 2017. It equates to $1.19 per gallon, down from $1.20 in January and compares to $1.15 a year ago.
Class III futures late morning on March 1 portended a March price at $15.22; April, $15.12; May, $15.19; and June at $15.50, with a peak of $16.33 in September.
The February Class IV price is $15.86, up 38 cents from January, $2.99 above a year ago, and the highest Class IV price since August 2017.
The USDA issued its delayed December Dairy Product...