Milk futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange closed lower Tuesday with mixed direction from the cash market.

November Class III milk unchanged at $23.14.  December three cents lower at $15.63.  January down 13 cents at $16.30.  February 10 cents lower at $16.40.  March through May contracts a nickel lower to unchanged.

Dry whey down $0.0075 at $0.43.  One trade was made at that price. 

Blocks up $0.02 at $1.68.  One trade was made at that price.

Barrels unchanged at $1.40.  Ten trades were made ranging from $1.3850 to $1.4050.

Butter down $0.0075 at $1.31.  Three trades were made ranging from $1.3025 to $1.31.

Nonfat dry milk up $0.0050 at $1.0875.  Eleven trades were made ranging from $1.0850 to $1.09.

The USDA says dairy stocks continue to draw down on the month while butter inventories build from reduced pandemic usage.

Cheese stocks during October totaled more than 1.3 billion pounds, down one percent from September and slightly on the year. 

Butter inventories were down 13 percent from last month but 28 percent higher than last year at 300 million pounds.