Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 20 requests for export assistance from Dairy Farmers of America, Foremost Farms, Northwest Dairy Association (Darigold), and Tillamook County Creamery Association who have contracts to sell 3.261 million pounds (1,479 metric tons) of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheese and 1.157 million pounds (525 metric tons) of butter to customers in Asia and the Middle East. The product has been contracted for delivery in the period from June through November 2015.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 38.047 million pounds of cheese, 30.395 million pounds of butter and 20.071 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 1.182 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. This, in turn, positively impacts all 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.