Europeans are consuming more and more butter at a time when prices are skyrocketing, stockpiles are running low and dairy giants are warning of an imminent shortage.
Producers from some industries had not yet passed the increase in butter prices on to their consumers. However, they admit that they would be forced to consider doing so in a “reasonable” way if the market had not stabilized in the following.
Today milk producers produce at a loss. There is a need to rethink the system so that they can make a living, avoid the closures of dairy farms and avoid the future shortage of butter.
Global dairy strategists argue that the recent lack of supply coupled with a “long term shift” among consumers back towards more natural products had also attributed to the sharp increase in butter prices. Famous magazines reported scientists had been “wrong” about the dangers of saturated fats and were now encouraging people to “eat butter”.
Recent studies have also questioned the link between butter and cardiovascular disease, thus supporting consumer enthusiasm for the product. Further to this, negative publicity surrounding some vegetable oil-based spreads, such as margarine, also appears to have persuaded people to switch back to the dairy spread.
In the recent years many international food producers announced they were switching to butter as consumer demand for natural products increased.
Source: CNBC newsletters