The egg market did not move this week but the supply is tightening up so we may see a slight increase next week as farmers are putting their birds out to molt. That will further reduce the supply.

     Butter bounced around this week and ended up dropping slightly. The inventories are up and demand has been strong from foodservice. One large area of concern are the fires in Australia. That is a huge dairy exporting nation that exports to all over the world. The effects from those fires have yet to be seen in a big way. Rumors have it that that is driving the Block market up some.

      These markets have also been bouncing around and rallied in the past two days. The Block market closed higher than the average so chances are it will go up again next week. Superbowl weekend is the highest demand of Block cheese for the year and this is firming up the market as well as potential for issues stemming from the Australian fires.

      Laubscher took their time and revamped their production area and set up new programs to make sure they never encounter these problems again. We have some product rolling in here next week as we deplete the inventories of Great Lakes shreds. Laubscher had always been a great supplier of shredded cheeses and is working to rebuild their place in the marketplace. Some of the cheese we had under the Lakewood label will be transitioning to the Laubscher label. It is the same cheese.

     We have extra product here in Springfield and would love some extra movement on it. We can offer 4.00 off per case. (.20 lb)  The product is fresh but we have too much on hand.

     Last week I included info from Cabot about their issues and shortages on many items. They are still expecting to be in “trouble” for the next two months on some items. These mainly are McCaddam aged cheeses from New York. I have Great Lakes coming in next Wednesday to cover these products. They are less expensive than what they are replacing so hopefully it will fill the void for all of us effectively. Monterey Jack and Pepper Jack will also be sporadic so I have Great Lakes coming on both of those. This Monterey Jack is in stock now and we should have enough Cabot to cover until next Wednesday when the Great Lakes arrives. There are a few items that I cannot replace at the moment, one of which is the 10 lb Horseradish cheddar. There are some smaller volume retail items also short.

I personally want to thank all of you that have been affected by the recall and shortages for your patience and understanding as we work through these challenging issues. It has affected all of us here immensely as we take pride in servicing all of you as best as possible. When things that are out of our control take place it is a helpless feeling to put our customers in this position. The teams in both Springfield and Philadelphia have worked extra hard to put all of this behind us and work through it with as little effect on you as possible.

We all hope you have a safe and relaxing weekend.