Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted five offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture contracts to sell 850,984 pounds (386 metric tons) of Cheddar cheese, and 440,925 pounds (200 metric tons) of whole milk powder. The product has been contracted for delivery in Asia and Oceania for the period from October 2018 through March 2019.
CWT-assisted member cooperative 2018 export sales total 51.952 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 12.962 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat) and 52.298 million pounds of whole milk powder to 35 countries on five continents. These sales are the equivalent of 1.153 billion pounds of milk on a milkfat basis. Totals have been adjusted to reflect bid cancellations.
Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program in the long term helps member cooperatives gain and maintain market share, thus expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the U.S. farm milk that produces them. This, in turn, positively affects all U.S. dairy farmers by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact their milk price.
The amounts of dairy products and related milk volumes reflect current contracts for delivery, not completed export volumes. CWT will pay export assistance to the bidders only when export and delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.
