Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 4 requests for export assistance from member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 1.764 million pounds (605 metric tons) of Cheddar cheese, 110,231 pounds (50 metric tons) of butter and 132,277 pounds (60 metric tons) of whole milk powder to customers in Asia, the Middle East, and South America. The product has been contracted for delivery in the period from August 2015 through February 2016.
Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 44.894 million pounds of cheese, 29.826 million pounds of butter and 33.409 million pounds of whole milk powder to thirty-three countries on five continents. The amounts of cheese, butter and whole milk powder in these sales contracts represent the equivalent of 1.329 billion pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. Numbers are adjusted for cancellations.
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 all U.S. dairy farmers by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact their milk price.
The amounts of dairy products 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. 8.10.2015