Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 10 requests for export assistance from Darigold, Michigan Milk Producers Association and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell 1.358 million pounds (616 metric tons) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, 2.519 million pounds (1,143 metric tons) of butter and 44,092 pounds of whole milk powder to customers in Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and South America. The product will be delivered January through July 2013.

These are the first CWT-assisted sales of the New Year and will be sent to seven countries on three continents. When combined with the 2012 CWT-assisted export sales that will ship in 2013, the milk equivalent is 773.3 million pounds, or the same as the annual production of 36,800 cows.

Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively impacts producer milk prices in the short-term by helping to maintain inventories of cheese and butter at desirable levels. In the long-term, CWT's Export Assistance program helps member cooperatives gain and maintain market share, thus expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the farm milk that produces them.

CWT will pay export bonuses to the bidders only when 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.

01.08.2013