Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has accepted 6 requests for export assistance from member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 531,314 pounds of Cheddar, Gouda and Monterey Jack cheeses to customers in Asia. The product has been contracted for delivery in the period from November through December 2015.

Year-to-date, CWT has assisted member cooperatives who have contracts to sell 47.676 million pounds of cheese, 25.671 million pounds of butter and 35.556 million pounds of whole milk powder to thirty-five countries on five continents. The amounts of cheese, butter and whole milk powder in these sales contracts represent the equivalent of 1.277 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 dairy products 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.