lButter is browning around the edges. Let’s cut the nonsense and get to the heart of the matter of whipped cream. It has never been so popular and is gaining popularity on the markets. Just like gold, which surpassed the historic mark of 2,600 dollars (2,330 euros) per ounce on Friday, September 20, butter is breaking records. This precious commodity is trading at almost 8,000 euros per tonne at the end of summer. Never seen before. Butter and brown butter.
We recall that seven years ago, in the autumn of 2017, the French flocked to the scarce supermarket shelves and the media was betting on the shortage of butter biscuits. This moment of media panic coincided with a price of butter close to 7,000 euros per tonne, a level considered, at the time, stratospheric. For now, as this peak remains in the rearview mirror, no one has sounded the alarm. The makers of Pain au Chocolat, croissants and other pastries are not out of the woods. They are not yet in a desperate situation.
To explain this outbreak, Benoît Rouyer, economist at the National Interprofessional Center for Dairy Economy (Cniel), mentions “the decline in production in two of the three main global dairy basins, namely the United States and New Zealand”although consumption remains: “In the United States, the decline is linked to unfavourable weather conditions, while in New Zealand, agro-environmental pressure is causing production to stagnate or even fall.” Although udder flow in Europe remains positive, the overall market trend is slightly negative.
Favorable
Gold, “As soon as there is an imbalance, there is a runaway effect”Mr Rouyer notes. Speculation is causing prices to skyrocket. “Since autumn 2023, the price of industrial butter has risen by 50%”No one knows when this fall will be passed on to the consumer. It is true that, in shops, butter and cream have already seen their prices rise by 30% in three years and that the price falls of these raw materials have never been passed on to the prices shown.
For French dairy producers, this assessment bodes well for milk price negotiations in 2025. According to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, a tonne of conventional milk was sold for an average of 460 euros in the first seven months of the year, a 3% year-on-year drop. The idea is to get things moving again. “We are asking for a price at least equal to our production costs, estimated by the industry at 485 euros per tonne.stresses Yohann Barbe, President of the National Federation of Milk Producers. French milk production has increased from 24 to 23 billion litres of milk. We must recover the lost billion litres. »
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