Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted 33 offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture contracts to sell 4.028 million pounds (1,827 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese, 1.340 million pounds (608 metric tons) of butter, and 705,479 pounds (320 metric tons) of whole milk powder. The product will be delivered during period December 2018 through May 2019.
The year-to-date CWT-assisted member cooperative sales have reached 66.412 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 15.859 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat) and 38.671 million pounds of whole milk powder. These sales are the equivalent on a milkfat basis to 1.252 billion pounds of milk. Totals are adjusted for contract cancellations.
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.
