The rise in the price of butter leaves a bitter taste for European consumers

As the Christmas holidays approach, Europeans face another daily expense: the price of butter skyrockets. In the 26 Member States of the European Union, the average price of butter increased by 19% between October 2023 and October 2024.

In Slovakia, the increase was 49%and in Germany and the Czech Republic, 40%according to EU figures, and reports indicate that the cost has continued to rise. In Germany, A block of 250 grams of butter now usually costs between 2.40 and 4 eurosdepending on the brand and quality.

According to economist Mariusz Dziwulski, food and agricultural market analyst at PKO Bank Polski in Warsaw, the increase is due to a global milk shortage caused by declining production, including in the United States and New Zealand, one of the largest butter exporters in the world.

European butter usually has a higher fat content than that sold in the United States. It is also sold by weight in standard sizes, so food producers cannot hide price increases by reducing packaging size, something known as reduflation.

The Butter shortage in France in the 19th century led to the invention of margarinebut the French remain some of the largest consumers of butter on the continent.

Polish buyers, very affected

Butter is so important. in Poland that The Government keeps a strategic reserve of itas it does with the national gas and Covid vaccines. The Government announced on Tuesday that it was going to release some 1,000 tonnes of frozen butter to stabilize prices.

The price of butter rose 11.4% between the beginning of November and the beginning of December in Poland, and 49.2% in the last yearup almost 37 Polish zlotys (8.7 euros) per kilo in the week ending December 8, according to the National Center for Agricultural Support, a government agency. Buyers have noticed. “Butter is getting more expensive every month,” said Danuta Osinska, 77, while shopping at a discount chain in Warsaw.

She and her husband love butter, but have difficulty paying for medicine with their small pension. Now they eat less butter and more margarine, although they like its taste less. “There is no comparison,” says Osinska. “Things are getting more difficult.”

The cost of butter in Poland has become a political issue. With a presidential election scheduled for next year, opponents of centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk are trying to blame him and his Civic Platform party. Other Poles want to blame the governor of the national bank, who belongs to an opposing political side.

According to Agnieszka Maliszewska, director of the Polish Milk Chamber, some consumers decide where to buy based on the price of butter, which has caused price wars between supermarket chains which, in some cases, kept prices artificially low in the past to the detriment of dairy producers.

Maliszewska believes that butter inflation is due to national, community and global problems. He maintains that the main cause in Poland is the shortage of milk fat due to the closure of companies due to the low profits of the markets and the hard work of ranchers. She and others also cite rising energy costs due to Russia’s war in Ukraine as a factor affecting milk production.

Economist Dziwulski also believes that droughts can be a factor that reduces production. Falling milk prices last year discouraged investments and pushed EU dairy producers to make more cheesewhich offered greater profitability, according to him. An outbreak of bluetongue, a viral disease transmitted by insects that is harmless to humans but can be fatal to sheep, cows and goats, may also play a role, according to Dziwulski.

Olive oil, the preferred butter of the inhabitants of southern Europe

Southern European countries, which depend much more on olive oil, are less affectedaffected by butter inflationor they simply do not consider it as important because they consume much less.

Since last year, The cost of butter has risen by 44% on average in Italyaccording to the dairy market analysis company CLAL. Italy is the seventh largest producer of butter in Europe, but olive oil is the preferred fat, even for some desserts. Therefore, the price of butter does not cause the same alarm there as in other parts of Europe addicted to it.

Meanwhile, in Parispastry chef Arnaud Delmontel, who makes croissants and pain au chocolate for his own pastry shop, says he has seen the price of butter has skyrocketed by 25% since September alone.

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Some competitors, he says, They are turning to margarinea plan he does not intend to copy. “It is a distortion of what a croissant is.“says Delmontel. “A croissant is made with butter.”