Rising Demand For Dairy Fuels Butter Shortages

Global sales of butter continue to see a rapid increase, as more people are making the decision to turn away from the low-fat advice that we've been given for the last few decades. A growing number are now making the move to put full-fat dairy food items like butter and whole milk back into their diets.

In 2016 it's estimated that global butter prices tripled.

And the rising demand has led to a butter shortage recently in places like France and Australia. France is regarded as having the second biggest dairy sector in Europe and there are drastic shortages there now where shelves have been seen empty.

There has been an incredible surge in the past several years for more butter and because of that, the producers are struggling to keep up; to get the products to the shelves in a timely manner. One reason that things have been tough is due to the supply of raw materials falling.

The world's largest dairy producer, New Zealand, has seen recent dairy shortages; producing roughly 11+ percent less butter this year so far, than they had produced the previous year.

In France at the moment, store owners are said to be engaged in a price war with producers. And because the retailers only fix their prices once a year, they are reluctant now to increase those prices.

Right now in France they're having difficulty meeting at least 30 percent of market demand for butter.

Producers might still be making plenty of butter in the region, but it isn't going to be sold at the previously agreed upon prices now that demand has surged. Retailers are allegedly unwilling to raise their prices at the moment, but producers know that there are customers elsewhere around the world who are willing to pay a higher price; creating a more appealing option for those butter producers to go looking to sell their products abroad.

In Australia, they say that Chinese buyers are spurring the market demand. And the price of butter in the region there is estimated to have increased at least 30 percent in the last year. And because of it, many Australian bakeries are allegedly now looking to use more cost-effective options than the butter, like margarine for their recipes. The producers in multiple regions are allegedly lagging when it comes to increasing their production in order to meet with the growing demand.

However, industry experts say that for now consumers don't need to worry much at the moment, there is still plenty of butter out there to be found. But they are likely to see some rising prices, especially depending on their region, due to the global rise in demand for butter. And those high prices aren't expected to change until the production can get a much-needed boost, to try and meet the need.