The information below has been supplied by dairy marketers and other industry organizations. It has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hoard¹s Dairyman.

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 11 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Foremost Farms and Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold). These member cooperatives have contracts to sell 1.609 million pounds (730 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese, and 308,647 pounds (140 metric tons) of butter to customers in Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania. The product has been contracted for delivery in the period from November 2016 through February 2017.

So far this year, CWT has assisted member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 45.799 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 11.748 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat) and 21.316 million pounds of whole milk powder to twenty-three countries on five continents. The sales are the equivalent of 842.673 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.