Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 26 requests for export assistance from Bongards Creameries, Dairy Farmers of America, Foremost Farms, Michigan Milk Producers Association and United Dairymen of Arizona to sell 873,031 pounds of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese, 3.748 million pounds of 82% butter and 2.668 million pounds of whole milk powder to customers in Asia, Africa, Central and South American, Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. The product will be delivered April through October 2014.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives in selling 47.203 million pounds of cheese, 42.085 million pounds of butter and 7.809 million pounds of whole milk powder to 33 countries on six continents. These sales are the equivalent of 1.420 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.