(NAFB) – The International Dairy Foods Association, the Port of Los Angeles, and CMA CGM, a French shipping and logistics company, have formed the Dairy Exports Working Group.

It will work to identify and address supply chain issues hampering U.S. dairy product exports. The announcement was made at the Dairy Forum, which is the annual IDFA conference. The groups will focus their efforts on West Coast ports, which is where most U.S. dairy products leave the country. The Hagstrom Report says they’ll also look at ways to streamline shipping from the nation’s midsection to the West Coast.

“U.S. dairy exports reached a near-record $6.4 billion in 2020 and continued at a strong pace in 2021 because of high demand,” says Michael Dykes, IDEFA President. “That total could be much higher with more reliability and predictability in the supply chain.”

The CMA CGM Group promised to offer more empty containers to U.S. exporters to help speed up shipping efforts.