The information listed below has been supplied by dairy marketers and other industry organizations. The information provided here has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hoard’s Dairyman.

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 8 requests for export assistance from Foremost Farms, Dairy Farmers of America, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), O-At-Ka/Upstate-Niagara Cooperative and United Dairymen of Arizona. These member cooperatives have contracts to sell 873,031 pounds (396 metric tons) of butter and 136,687 pounds (62 metric tons) of Cheddar cheese to customers in Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. The product has been contracted for delivery in the period from October 2016 through January 2017.

So far this year, CWT has assisted member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 42.408 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 10.326 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat) and 19.096 million pounds of whole milk powder to twenty-three countries on five continents. The sales are the equivalent of 763.176 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 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.