Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted eight offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture contracts to sell 1.448 million pounds (657 metric tons) of Cheddar cheese, contracted for delivery in Asia, the Middle East and North Africa for the period from November 2018 through March 2019.
CWT-assisted member cooperative 2018 export sales total 49.719 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 12.962 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat) and 52.188 million pounds of whole milk powder to 36 countries on five continents. These sales are the equivalent of 1.132 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, expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the U.S. farm milk that produces them. This 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.
