CWT Assists with 3.7 Million Pounds of Export Sales

Source: Cooperatives Working Together

Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 11 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell 3.337 million pounds (1,514 metric tons) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, and 385,809 pounds (175 metric tons) of butter, to customers in Asia and the Middle East. The product will be delivered September 2012 through February 2013.

In 2012, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in making export sales of Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Gouda cheese totaling 82.4 million pounds, butter totaling 57.1 million pounds, and anhydrous milk fat totaling 123,459 pounds, to 34 countries on four continents. On a butterfat basis, the milk equivalent of these exports is 2.008 billion pounds, or the same as the annual milk production of 95,600 cows.

Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively impacts producer milk prices in the short-term by reducing inventories that overhang the market and depress cheese and butter prices. 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.