Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 11 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), Tillamook County Creamery Association and United Dairymen of Arizona who have contracts to sell 2.477 million pounds (1,124 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda, and Monterey Jack cheese and 385,809 pounds (175 metric tons) of butter to customers in Asia, the Middle East, and the South Pacific. The product has been contracted for delivery in the period from March through August 2015.
Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 9.709 million pounds of cheese and 18.839 million pounds of butter to eighteen countries on five continents. The amounts of and butter in these sales contracts represent the equivalent of 513.481 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.
The amounts of cheese and related milk volumes reflect current contracts for delivery, not completed export volumes. CWT will pay export assistance to the bidders only when export and 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. 3.3.2015