First Quarter CWT-assisted export sales top 20 million pounds of product
March 31, 2020
In the first three months of 2020, CWT member cooperatives secured 171 contracts to sell 8.9 million pounds of American-type cheeses, 1.3 million pounds of butter, 1.8 million pounds of cream cheese, and 8.8 million pounds of whole milk powder. These totals include March contracts for 4 million pounds of cheese, 165,347 pounds of butter, 449,743 pounds of cream cheese, and 3.5 million pounds of whole milk powder. The milk equivalent of the 2020 contracts 189 million pounds on a milkfat basis.
The coronavirus situation in the U.S. has dramatically changed the domestic market for dairy products, with much of the food-service and school-milk sectors, critical markets for U.S. dairy farmers, drying up as businesses and schools close nationwide. The Cooperatives Working Together export assistance program counteracts the shakeup in domestic demand by moving U.S.-created dairy products overseas, helping to support farm milk prices.
Assisting CWT member cooperatives gain and maintain world market share through the Export Assistance program, in the long-term expands 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.
All cooperatives and dairy farmers are encouraged to add their support to this important program. Membership forms are available at http://www.cwt.coop/membership.
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