Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 10 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), and Tillamook County Creamery Association who have contracts to sell 1.405 million pounds (637 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda, and Monterey Jack cheese and 55,116 pounds (25 metric tons) of butter to customers in Asia, the Middle East, and Oceania. The product has been contracted for delivery in the period from April through September 2015.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 24.842 million pounds of cheese and 24.387 million pounds of butter to 22 countries on five continents. The amounts of cheese and butter in these sales contracts represent the equivalent of 778.008 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.

The amounts of cheese 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.