Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted seven requests for export assistance from Bongards Creameries, Dairy Farmers of America and Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Cooperative Association to sell 2.429 million pounds (1,102 metric tons) of Cheddar and Gouda cheese and 440,925 pounds (200 metric tons) of butter to customers in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The product will be delivered October 2013 through March 2014.
Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 109.329 million pounds of cheese, 80.236 million pounds of butter, 44,092 pounds of anhydrous milk fat and 218,258 pounds of whole milk powder to 37 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 2.816 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)