Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) member cooperatives accepted 23 offers of export assistance from CWT that helped them capture contracts to sell 8.607 million pounds (3,904 metric tons) of Cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, 716,502 pounds (325 metric tons) of butter, and 1.721 million pounds (781 metric tons) of whole milk powder. The product will be delivered during period November 2018 through May 2019.

The year-to-date 1.3 billion pounds of milk equivalent on a milkfat basis is made up of CWT member cooperative sales of 62.384 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 14.558 million pounds of butter (82% milkfat) and 54.555 million pounds of whole milk powder.

Assisting CWT members through the Export Assistance program in the long term helps member cooperatives gain and maintain market share, expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products and the U.S. farm milk that produces them. This positively affects 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.