Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 15 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Foremost Farms USA and Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold) to sell 1.261 million pounds (572 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese and 1.764 million pounds (800 metric tons) of butter to customers in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The product will be delivered August 2013 through February 2014.
Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 86.498 million pounds of cheese, 67.204 million pounds of butter, 44,092 pounds of anhydrous milk fat and 218,258 pounds of whole milk powder to 35 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 2.312 billion pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.
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 assistance to the bidders only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.
Source: Cooperatives Working Together (CWT)