CWT Assists with 4.1 Million Pounds of Cheese, Butter and AMF Export Sales

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 28 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold, Foremost Farms, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell a total of 1,187 metric tons (2.617 million pounds) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese and 663 metric tons (1.461 million pounds) of butter and anhydrous milk fat (AMF) to customers in Asia, Central America, North Africa and the Middle East. The product will be delivered May through July 2012.

In 2012, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in making export sales of Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Gouda cheese totaling 50.3 million pounds and butter and AMF totaling 42.8 million pounds to 27 countries on four continents. On a butterfat basis, the milk equivalent of these exports is 1.396 billion pounds, or the same as the annual milk production of 66,400 cows.

Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively impacts producer milk prices in the short-term by reducing inventories that overhang the market and depress cheese and butter prices. In the long-term, CWT's Export Assistance program helps member cooperatives gain and maintain market share, thus expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the farm milk that produces them.

CWT will pay export bonuses 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.

5.16.2012