Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted 20 offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture sales contracts for 182,984 pounds (152 metric tons) of Cheddar, Colby, Gouda, Monterey Jack, and Swiss cheese; 496,040 pounds (225 metric tons) of butter; 473,994 pounds (215 metric tons) of whole milk powder; and 392,423 pounds (178 metric tons) of cream cheese. These products are going to customers in Asia, Central America, the Middle East and South America. The product will be delivered during the period from May through September 2019.
CWT-assisted member cooperative 2019 export sales now total 26.187 million pounds of American-type and Swiss cheeses, 3.962 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat), 1.459 million pounds of cream cheese and 23.080 million pounds of whole milk powder to 23 countries in six regions. These sales are equal to 499 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, www.cwt.coop
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
