CWT Assists with 7.5 Million Pounds of Exports
Source: Cooperatives Working Together
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 28 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), Michigan Milk Producers Association, United Dairymen of Arizona and Upstate Niagara Cooperative (OAT-KA) to sell 5.899 million pounds (2,676 metric tons) of Cheddar cheese and 1.636 million pounds (742 metric tons) of butter to customers in Asia, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and Oceania. The product will be delivered April through September 2013.
Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 47.055 million pounds of
cheese, 46.484 million pounds of butter, 44,092 pounds of anhydrous milk fat and 218,258
pounds of whole milk powder to 30 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent
of 1.449 billion pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. That is equal to 90% of USDA’s projected
increase in milk marketings for all of 2013.
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.
