Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 35 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Land O’Lakes, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), Tillamook County Creamery Association and United Dairymen of Arizona. These cooperatives have contracts to sell 4.350 million pounds (1,973 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese, and 1.984 million pounds (900 metric tons) of butter to customers in Asia, Central America, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The product has been contracted for delivery in the period from March through June 2018.
CWT-assisted member cooperative 2018 export sales total 22.873 million pounds of American-type cheeses, and 5.337 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat) to 17 countries on four continents. These sales are the equivalent of 331.209 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 affects 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.
