Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 9 requests for export assistance from Agri-Mark, Dairy Farmers of America, and Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold) who have contracts to sell 604,067 pounds (275 metric tons) of Cheddar, Colby and Monterey Jack cheese and 1.102 million pounds (500 metric tons) of whole milk powder to customers in Asia and the Middle East. The product has been contracted for delivery in the period from May through October 2015.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 29.485 million pounds of cheese, 24.388 million pounds of butter, and 9.841 million pounds of whole milk powder to twenty eight countries on five continents. The amounts of Cheese, Butter and Whole Milk Powder in these sales contracts represent the equivalent of 892.705 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