Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 18 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative, Michigan Milk Producers Association, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold) and Tillamook County Creamery Association who have contracts to sell 465,175 pounds (949 metric tons) of Cheddar and Gouda cheese, 6.515 million pounds (2,955 metric tons) of butter and 1.041 million pounds (472 metric tons) of whole milk powder to customers in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and South America. The product has been contracted for delivery in the period from October 2015 through March 2016.Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 47.145 million pounds of cheese, 25.671 million pounds of butter and 35.556 million pounds of whole milk powder to thirty-five countries on six continents. The amounts of cheese, butter and whole milk powder in these sales contracts represent the equivalent of 1.272 billion 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 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.
10.16.2015