Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 28 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Foremost Farms, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Association, Michigan Milk Producers Association, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), and Tillamook County Creamery Association to sell 5.340 million pounds of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheeses, 2.260 million pounds of 82% butter and 837,757 pounds (380 Metric tons of whole milk powder to customers in Asia, Central America, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and the South Pacific. The product will be delivered April through October 2014.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 46.132 million pounds of cheese, 34.163 million pounds of butter and 4.204 million pounds of whole milk powder to 29 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 1.195 billion 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 in the rapidly growing world dairy markets. 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.