December CWT-Assisted Sales Raise 2018 Sales to Over 1.3 Billion Pounds of Milk
January 20, 2019
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) assisted in the sales of 13 million pounds of cheese, butter and whole milk powder in the last month of the year. This raised the 2018 total export sales to 72.5 million pounds of America-type cheeses, 17.4 million pounds of butter and 41.6 million pounds of whole milk powder. The milk equivalent of these sales is 1.36 billion pounds on a milkfat basis.
In total, an estimated 108 million pounds of CWT-assisted dairy products were shipped out of the United States and into overseas markets in 2018, the milkfat equivalent of 1.12 billion pounds of milk. Additional shipments contracted in 2018 will ship during early 2019.
In December, CWT helped six member cooperatives secure 62 sales contracts to send 7.9 million pounds of American-type cheeses to six countries in Asia, the Middle East, Central America and South America. Six butter contracts accounted for 1.5 million pounds of butter headed to two countries in the Middle East, while five contracts will send 3.6 million pounds of whole milk powder to three countries in Central and South America. The products will be shipped during the months of December 2018 through June 2019.
Helping CWT member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share through the Export Assistance Program positively impacts all U.S. dairy farmers by strengthening and maintaining the value of dairy products that directly impact their milk price. It does this by expanding the demand for U.S. dairy products beyond the domestic market, thereby increasing the total demand for U.S. farm milk.
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 required documentation.
All cooperatives and dairy producers benefit from CWT’s activities and should support to this program in the new year. Membership forms for 2019-2021 are available on the CWT website.
Download PDF
