Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted 17 offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture sales contracts for 4.343 million pounds (1,970 metric tons) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese; 169,756 pounds (77 metric tons) of butter and 1.124 million pounds (510 metric tons) of whole milk powder. These products are going to customers in Asia, Central America, the Middle East, Oceania and South America. The product will be delivered during the period from February through July 2019.
CWT-assisted member cooperative 2019 export sales total 11.729 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 707,684 pounds of butter (82% milkfat) and 2.249 million pounds of whole milk powder to 16 countries in six regions. These sales are the equivalent of 140.6 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.
Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively affects all U.S. dairy farmers and all dairy cooperatives by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact their milk price. It does this by helping member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share for U.S dairy products. As a result, the program has significantly expanded the total demand for U.S. dairy products and the demand for U.S. farm milk that produces those products.
The amounts of dairy products and related milk volumes reflect current contracts for delivery, not completed export volumes. CWT pays export assistance to the bidders only when export and delivery of the product is verified by required documentation.
All dairy farmers and all dairy cooperatives should invest in CWT. Membership information is available on the CWT website.
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.
