Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 12 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), Foremost Farms USA, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association, Michigan Milk Producers Association, United Dairymen of Arizona and Upstate Niagara Cooperative (O-AT-KA) to sell 6.360 million pounds (2,885 metric tons) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, 8.794 million pounds (3,989 metric tons) of butter and 85,980 pounds (39 metric tons) of whole milk powder (WMP) to customers in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Oceania and South America. The product will be delivered March through August 2013.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 30.095 million pounds of cheese, 21.618 million pounds of butter and 218,258 pounds of whole milk powder to 24 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 749.1 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis, or the annual milk output of 35,670 cows. It is also more than 10 times the amount that the January 2013 U.S. milk production was above January 2012.

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.

3.05.2013