ARLINGTON, VA – Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 13 requests for export assistance from Bongards Creameries, Dairy Farmers of America, Darigold and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell 4.696 million pounds (2,130 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese to customers in Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and South America. The product will be delivered February through July 2013.From the year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 19.312 million pounds of cheese, 9.760 million pounds of butter and 88,185 pounds of whole milk powder to 23 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 391 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. That is the annual production of 18,600 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.
Source: CWT
