Dairy-product price jump is seen

Prices of milk, cheese, ice cream and other dairy products will rise this summer in the United States as more dairy processors pass on their skyrocketing raw-milk costs.

Farm-level milk prices will hit new highs in 2007 because of rapidly growing export demand, tight global supplies and only modest gains in U.S. production.

“We’re going to be hitting record milk prices here in the U.S., and that is going to push up all of our dairy prices by the summer,” said Ken Bailey, associate professor of agricultural economics at Pennsylvania State University.