Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 15 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Maryland & Virginia Milk Producers Association, Michigan Milk Producers Association, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), O-AT-KA/Upstate-Niagara, and Tillamook County Creamery Association to sell 198,416 pounds of Cheddar cheese, 4.184 million pounds of 82% butter and 936,965 pounds of whole milk powder to customers in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa. The product will be delivered April through September 2014.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 46.330 million pounds of cheese, 38.348 million pounds of butter and 5.141 million pounds of whole milk powder to 33 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 1.321 billion pounds of milk on a milkfat basis, well ahead of the year-to-date increase in U.S. milk production through March of 565 million pounds.

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.

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.