Getty Images/IstetianaBloomberg reported that cheese prices have fallen to a 15-month low.Some cheesemakers have found a way to adapt to high lumber prices this year by using barrels rather than wooden boxes.Cheese barrels, however, are not as keg-shaped wood vessels that one might think.Subscribe to our daily newsletter 10 Things Before The Opening Bell.Bloomberg reported that cheese prices have fallen to a 15-month low.In the midst of a real estate building boom, lumber prices have risen this year and many wood products, including wooden boxes that cheese blocks are shipped in, have become prohibitively costly to produce. Bloomberg reports that some cheesemakers are finding ways to adapt to high prices and using barrels rather than boxes.However, there is a glut in processed cheese that has flooded the market. Prices for 500-pound barrels are now as low as $1.31 per Pound - the lowest prices since 2020 according to Bloomberg.You can understand why cheese barrels aren't the wooden vessels you might think. A cheese barrel is closer to a "plastic bag and a corrugated cardboard box with multiple dimensions" according to Kurt Epprecht, an Ohio cheesemaker, to Hoard's Dairyman.These vacuum-packed, quarter-ton "barrels", which store mostly processed cheese like Kraft Singles, are more efficient than wooden boxes that contain large blocks of unprocessed cheese.Similar to toilet paper, which is divided into different commercial and consumer segments, box and barrel cheese producers do not often mix. Epprecht stated that barrels can pose a danger if they are not properly equipped. Cheese plants prefer to be specialized.Hoard's Dairyman was told by Ted Jacoby, a cheese trader that there were 15 plants producing both blocks and barrels 20 years ago. "Today, I believe there are three."The other side of the cheese-barrel glut is a small, but significant shortfall in cheese-box supplies. According to Cheese Reporter data, the prices for a 640-pound Chicago Mercantile Exchange cheese box have risen around 10% since 2021.This multi-month low in cheese prices comes less than one year after it reached all-time highs. It happened after contract obligations from the pandemic era were cancelled and there was renewed demand for cheese by restaurants.Read on: Kumar Sadaram purchased his first rental property in 2012, and now owns over 50 properties. He shares the strategies that led him to financial independence and 3 methods to get started with real estate without spending a lot.
