Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 11 requests for export assistance from Bongards Creamery, Dairy Farmers of America, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), and Tillamook County Creamery Association to sell 2.590 million pounds (1,175 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda, and Monterey Jack cheese to customers in Asia, Central America, the Middle East, and North Africa. The product will be delivered in February through August 2015.
Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 7.231 million pounds of cheese and 18.453 million pounds of butter to sixteen countries on four continents. The sales are the equivalent of 481.929 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.
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 impacts U.S. dairy farmers by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact their milk price.
CWT will pay export assistance 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.