Cheese Gets Caught Up in Unlikely Fallout From Lumber’s Surge

(Bloomberg) -- The unintended consequences of a hot U.S. real estate market have cascaded into an unlikely place: cheese.

Soaring lumber prices earlier this year brought on by fierce homebuilding in North America has resulted in a dearth of wooden boxes that hold 640-pound blocks of cheese, which usually end up as shredded cheeses or cubes on party platters. To compensate, the industry has produced more 500-pound barrels of cheese, a vehicle for more processed varieties like Kraft Singles and Velveeta.

The flood of massive barrels in the market has resulted in the lowest prices for processed cheese in more than a year. On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, cheese barrels traded at $1.3075 a pound at the beginning of August, the lowest since May 2020.

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