Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 24 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), Foremost Farms USA, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association, Michigan Milk Producers Association, United Dairymen of Arizona and Upstate Niagara Cooperative (O-AT-KA) to sell 2.701 million pounds (1,225 metric tons) of butter and 2.740 million pounds (1,243 metric tons) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese to customers in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The product will be delivered April through September 2013.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 34.048 million pounds of cheese, 40.907 million pounds of butter and 218,258 pounds of whole milk powder to 24 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 1.206 billion pounds of milk on a milkfat basis, or the annual milk output of 57,400 cows.

Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively impacts producer milk prices in the short-term by helping to maintain inventories of cheese and butter at desirable levels. 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 .

03.19.2013