The information below has been supplied by dairy marketers and other industry organizations. It has not been edited, verified or endorsed by Hoard’s Dairyman.

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted eight offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture sales contracts for 1.065 million pounds (483 metric tons) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese. The product is going to customers in Asia and will be delivered during the period from August through December 2019.

These contracts bring the year-to-date dairy product totals to 37.4 million pounds of American-type and Swiss cheeses, 189,598 pounds of anhydrous milkfat, 4.2 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat), 3.6 million pounds of cream cheese and 37.5 million pounds of whole milk powder. The products are going to 26 countries in six regions and are the milk equivalent of 747.3 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.

Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively affects all U.S. dairy farmers and dairy cooperatives by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact the 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 total demand for U.S. dairy products and U.S. farm milk.

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 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 http://www.cwt.coop/