Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 4 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), and Tillamook County Creamery Association to sell 405,651 pounds (184 metric tons) of Cheddar and Gouda cheese and 440,925 pounds (200 metric tons) of 82% butter to customers in Asia, the Middle East and Central America. The product will be delivered in February through July 2015.
Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 4.215 million pounds of cheese and 13.922 million pounds of butter to fourteen countries on four continents. The sales are the equivalent of 352.156 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.
Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program, in the long-term, helps member cooperatives gain and maintain market share, thus expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the U.S. farm milk that produces them. This, in turn, positively impacts U.S. dairy farmers by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact their milk price.
CWT will pay export assistance to the bidders only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.
The Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) Export Assistance program is funded by voluntary contributions from dairy cooperatives and individual dairy farmers. The money raised by their investment is being used to strengthen and stabilize the dairy farmers' milk prices and margins. For more information about CWT, visit www.cwt.coop.