Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 23 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Land O'Lakes, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association, Michigan Milk Producers Association and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell 16.588 million pounds (7,524 metric tons) of butter and 1.213 million pounds (550 metric tons) of Cheddar cheese to customers in Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Oceania. The product will be delivered March through September 2013.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 31.308 million pounds of cheese, 38.206 million pounds of butter and 218,258 pounds of whole milk powder to 24 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 1.122 billion pounds of milk on a milkfat basis, or the annual milk output of 53,400 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.

03.13.2013