Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted three offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture sales contracts for 152,119 pounds (69 metric tons) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, and 3,307 pounds (1.5 metric tons) of cream cheese. The product is going to customers in Asia and Central America and will be delivered during the period from January through April 2020.
CWT-assisted member cooperative export sales for the first two weeks of 2020 total 756,186 pounds of American-type cheeses, 244,713 pounds of butter (82% milkfat), 607,374 pounds of cream cheese and 330,393 pounds of whole milk powder. The product is going to seven countries in four regions. These sales are the equivalent of 19.6 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.
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.
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.
