Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted 43 offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture sales contracts for 2.930 million pounds (1,329 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda, Monterey Jack and Swiss cheese; 651,347 pounds (75 metric tons) of butter, 149,914 pounds (68 metric tons) of cream cheese, and 1.208 million pounds (548 metric tons) of whole milk powder. The product is going to customers in Asia, Central and South America, the Middle East and Oceania. The products will be delivered from March through July 2020.
CWT-assisted member cooperative export sales contracts for 2020 total 8.565 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 1.276 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat), 1.540 million pounds of cream cheese and 7.161 million pounds of whole milk powder. The product is going to 19 countries in six regions. These sales are the equivalent of 172.1 million pounds of milk on a milkfat basis.
Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively affects all U.S. dairy farmers and all dairy cooperatives by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact their milk price. It does this by helping member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share for U.S dairy products. As a result, the program has significantly expanded the total demand for U.S. dairy products and the demand for U.S. farm milk.
The amounts of dairy products and related milk volumes reflect current contracts for delivery, not completed export volumes. CWT pays export assistance to the bidders only when export and delivery of the product is verified by required documentation.
All dairy farmers and dairy cooperatives should invest in CWT. Membership information is available on the CWT website.
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.
