The CME Group announced this week that it will delay the transition of its Dairy Spot Call, which offers daily price discovery in physical dairy markets, to an electronic, transaction-based auction. The debut of the electronic auction was originally scheduled to begin this Monday with nonfat dry milk, but it will now begin Jan. 9, 2017.

CME Group, which is an IDFA Gold Business Partner, said that the delay will help ensure a seamless transition to the new system. The current Dairy Spot Call system follows a tradition of open outcry auctioning in the dairy industry that has been in effect for more than 100 years.

The CME Group this year made the decision to change from an open outcry market to an electronic auction in response to industry demand, saying it “will further enhance the transparency of prices and user experience, while expanding access to a broader set of commercial dairy customers, brokers and other physical market participants.”

No start dates have been announced for butter and for blocks and barrels of cheese, but the company says it expects to transition the markets to the electronic auction platform during the first quarter of 2017.

View a recent video produced by Rice Dairy LLC, a dairy brokerage firm and IDFA Gold Business Partner, for more information about the transition.

For additional details, read Dairy Spot Call Auction FAQs.

Members with questions may contact Bob Yonkers, IDFA vice president and chief economist, at byonkers@idfa.org.