Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 14 requests for export assistance from Bongards Creameries, Dairy Farmers of America, Land O’Lakes and Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold) to sell 1.206 million pounds (547 metric tons) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese and 947,988 pounds (430 metric tons) of butter to customers in Asia, Central America, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The product will be delivered July through December 2013.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 75.678 million pounds of cheese, 61.272 million pounds of butter, 44,092 pounds of anhydrous milk fat and 218,258 pounds of whole milk powder to 34 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 2.078 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.