Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted 535 offers of export assistance that raised the milk equivalent of assisted sales in 2019 to nearly 1 billion lb.

In the last week of CWT activity for 2019, CWT member cooperatives accepted 16 offers of export assistance that helped them capture sales contracts for 1.016 million lb. (461 metric tons) of cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, 56,116 lb. (25 mt) of butter, 330,693 lb. (150 mt) of whole milk powder and 447,538 lb. (203 mt) of cream cheese. The products are going to customers in Asia, Central America and South America and will be delivered during the December 2019 through April 2020 period.

These contracts bring the 2019 CWT-assisted export sales totals to 48.9 million lb. of American-type cheese, 123,458 lb. of anhydrous milkfat, 5.0 million lb. of butter (82% milkfat), 6.8 million lb. of cream cheese and 46.1 million lb. of whole milk powder. The products are going to 27 countries in six regions and are the equivalent of 956.3 million lb. of milk on a milkfat basis.

“Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program positively affects all U.S. dairy farmers and dairy cooperatives by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact the milk price,” CWT said. “It does this by helping member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share for U.S. dairy products. As a result, the program has significantly expanded total demand for U.S. dairy products and U.S. farm milk.”

The amounts of dairy products and related milk volumes reflect current contracts for delivery, not completed export volumes. CWT pays export assistance to the bidders only when export and delivery of the product is verified by required documentation.