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Malaysian Reserve
14-07-2025
- Business
- Malaysian Reserve
Butter's global price surge hits croissants and kitchens alike
Butter stocks run low as Asian demand grows, leaving bakers and chefs to face rising costs AT THE Mamiche bakeries in the 9th and 10th arrondissements of Paris, their famous pains au chocolat and croissants depend on an essential but increasingly scarce ingredient — butter. The bakery's regular supplier can no longer provide a steady flow of French beurre de tourage, a type of flat butter used to make the pastries. Mamiche has gone searching elsewhere to ensure the steady flow of sweet treats from its ovens, but it's coming with a cost. Butter prices in most of the world are lingering near record highs, with little end in sight to the surge. It's the result of a complex interplay of factors — challenges faced by dairy farmers from France to New Zealand, changes in Asian consumers' appetites that's spurring global demand and commercial decisions by milk processors defending their bottom line. The end result is more cost pressure on consumers' favourite foods. 'When we have to change supplier, we can really see the difference' said Mamiche commercial operator Robin Orsoni. Other providers are charging prices 25% to 30% higher but Mamiche has to absorb the cost because 'we want to make our customers happy, we need the butter.' Around 70% of the butter exported around the world comes from two places — Europe and New Zealand. Each began 2025 with historically low stockpiles and this supply tightness has caused prices to spike to a record, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The roots of the squeeze can be traced back to 2022, when the price of milk in Europe peaked as inflation and fuel costs hit farmers hard, pushing dairy processors to look at the best way to maximise profits. Butter is made by removing cream from raw milk and churning it. Once the process is complete, you are left with butter and butter-milk, the latter of which 'has some industrial uses, but those are relatively limited,' said FAO economist Monika Tothova. It's used for some cooking, to make other dairy products and for livestock feed. In contrast, 'if you make cheese, you process the entire volume of milk,' said Tothova. Even the by-product from cheese-making, called whey, is in high demand from commercial food makers for flavouring and nutrition, or gym enthusiasts to bulk out the protein in their diets. European Union (EU) dairy processors have making more and more cheese. As a result, the bloc's butter production has steadily declined and is expected to hit an eight-year low this season, according to estimates from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Milk production itself is also becoming more challenging. In Europe, farmers' herd sizes are shrinking due to financial pressures and they now face added risks to their cows from bluetongue virus, said price reporting agency, Expana dairy market analyst Jose Saiz. Lumpy skin disease, which can curb an infected cows' milk yields, is also making its way into Italy and France. Just as butter has fallen out of favour with dairy processors, consumers are developing a stronger taste for it, particularly in Asia. Global consumption of butter is expected to grow 2.7% in 2025, outpacing production, according to the USDA. In China demand has already grown by 6% in just one year. Usage in Taiwan between 2024 and 2025 rose 4%, while in India, the world's largest consumer, it is up 3%. Hong Kong's (HK) French bakery chain, Bakehouse, has been tapping into Asian consumers changing tastes. Its annual butter use is currently about 180 tonnes, an increase of 96 tonnes from the prior year after they opened two new stores, in addition to another 180 tonnes of cream, according to its co-founder Grégoire Michaud. The firm only buys from well-established suppliers — New Zealand has a top-tier reputation but China isn't good enough yet, he said. Grégoire says Bakehouse uses about 180 tonnes of butter a year, mainly from top-tier suppliers like New Zealand In New Zealand, which is a major dairy exporter and produces about 2.5% of global milk supply, butter production has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, fluctuating around 500,000 tonnes a year since 2020. As in Paris, supply scarcity and high butter prices have forced HK's Bakehouse to cycle through three different providers in just a short period — from Australia, to New Zealand and then Belgium. Now they're potentially looking for a fourth. Western consumers are also eating more butter, which for years was shunned for being unhealthy, as they look to cut ultra-processed foods out of their diets. Purchases of pure block butter in the UK have grown, said UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board lead dairy analyst Susie Stannard. 'Consumers who can afford it will still buy butter,'she said, but they aren't immune from price pressures. City workers outside an ice cream kiosk at lunchtime during a heatwave in London on July 1 At the newly opened Morchella restaurant in London's Clerkenwell district, the brown butter and bread that was so popular at its sister eatery, Perilla in Newington Green, has been replaced with olive oil. Before the recent price hikes 'you'd put a lot of butter into the pan to base that piece of fish and meat,' said Ben Marks, who heads up the kitchens at Perilla. 'Now you've just got be much cleverer.' Relief for consumers isn't expected to come anytime soon. Butter prices are also affected by the global conflicts, supply chain disruptions and tariff wars that have roiled every other commodity. Amid this 'very hot market,' HK's Bakehouse is now prioritising butter from closer providers to avoid a loss of supply, said Michaud. Orsoni said Mamiche will absorb the higher cost of butter to keep French staples affordable for its customers, but Perilla's Marks said it's 'inevitable' that diners will face higher prices. The heatwave seen in Europe in recent weeks could also exacerbate the situation. High temperatures can reduce yields from diary cows, while also pushing up demand for other products that compete with butter for the fatty cream taken off the top of milk. Tennis fans reaching for cream to accompany their strawberries as they watch Wimbledon, or workers cooling down with an ice cream in city plazas, 'can only hold butter prices up,' said Stannard. — Bloomberg This article first appeared in The Malaysian Reserve weekly print edition
Economic Times
07-07-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Butter's global price surge hits croissants and kitchens alike
Synopsis This scarcity forces businesses like Mamiche in Paris and Bakehouse in Hong Kong to absorb higher costs or seek alternative suppliers. iStock Butter prices in most of the world are lingering near record highs, with little end in sight to the surge. At the Mamiche bakeries in the 9th and 10th arrondissements of Paris, their famous pains au chocolat and croissants depend on an essential but increasingly scarce ingredient — butter. The bakery's regular supplier can no longer provide a steady flow of French beurre de tourage, a type of flat butter used to make the pastries. Mamiche has gone searching elsewhere to ensure the steady flow of sweet treats from its ovens, but it's coming with a cost. Butter prices in most of the world are lingering near record highs, with little end in sight to the surge. It's the result of a complex interplay of factors — challenges faced by dairy farmers from France to New Zealand, changes in Asian consumers' appetites that's spurring global demand, and commercial decisions by milk processors defending their bottom end result is more cost pressure on consumers' favorite foods. 'When we have to change supplier, we can really see the difference' said Robin Orsoni, commercial operator for Mamiche. Other providers are charging prices 25% to 30% higher but Mamiche has to absorb the cost because 'we want to make our customers happy, we need the butter.' Around 70% of the butter exported around the world comes from two places — Europe and New Zealand. Each began 2025 with historically low stockpiles, and this supply tightness has caused prices to spike to a record, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization. The roots of the squeeze can be traced back to 2022, when the price of milk in Europe peaked as inflation and fuel costs hit farmers hard, pushing dairy processors to look at the best way to maximize profits. Butter is made by removing cream from raw milk and churning it. Once the process is complete, you are left with butter and buttermilk, the latter of which 'has some industrial uses, but those are relatively limited,' said Monika Tothova, an economist at the FAO. It's used for some cooking, to make other dairy products, and for livestock feed. In contrast, 'if you make cheese, you process the entire volume of milk,' said Tothova. Even the by-product from cheese-making, called whey, is in high demand from commercial food makers for flavoring and nutrition, or gym enthusiasts to bulk out the protein in their Union dairy processors have making more and more cheese. As a result, the bloc's butter production has steadily declined and is expected to hit an eight-year low this season, according to estimates from the US Department of Agriculture. Milk production itself is also becoming more challenging. In Europe, farmers' herd sizes are shrinking due to financial pressures, and they now face added risks to their cows from bluetongue virus, said Jose Saiz, a dairy market analyst at price reporting agency Expana. Lumpy skin disease, which can curb an infected cows' milk yields, is also making its way into Italy and as butter has fallen out of favor with dairy processors, consumers are developing a stronger taste for it, particularly in consumption of butter is expected to grow 2.7% in 2025, outpacing production, according to the USDA. In China demand has already grown by 6% in just one year. Usage in Taiwan between 2024 and 2025 rose 4%, while in India, the world's largest consumer, it is up 3%. Hong Kong's French bakery chain, Bakehouse, has been tapping into Asian consumers changing tastes. Its annual butter use is currently about 180 tons, an increase of 96 tons from the prior year after they opened two new stores, in addition to another 180 tons of cream, according to co-founder Gregoire Michaud. The firm only buys from well established suppliers — New Zealand has a top-tier reputation but China isn't good enough yet, he said. In New Zealand, which is a major dairy exporter and produces about 2.5% of global milk supply, butter production has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, fluctuating around 500,000 tons a year since 2020. As in Paris, supply scarcity and high butter prices have forced Hong Kong's Bakehouse to cycle through three different providers in just a short period - from Australia, to New Zealand and then Belgium. Now they're potentially looking for a consumers are also eating more butter, which for years was shunned for being unhealthy, as they look to cut ultra-processed foods out of their diets. Purchases of pure block butter in the UK have grown, said Susie Stannard, lead dairy analyst at the UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. 'Consumers who can afford it will still buy butter,'she said, but they aren't immune from price pressures. At the newly opened Morchella restaurant in London's Clerkenwell district, the brown butter and bread that was so popular at its sister eatery, Perilla in Newington Green, has been replaced with olive oil. Before the recent price hikes 'you'd put a lot of butter into the pan to base that piece of fish and meat,' said Ben Marks, who heads up the kitchens at Perilla. 'Now you've just got be much cleverer.'Relief for consumers isn't expected to come any time soon. Butter prices are also affected by the global conflicts, supply chain disruptions and tariff wars that have roiled every other commodity. Amid this 'very hot market,' Hong Kong's Bakehouse is now prioritizing butter from closer providers to avoid a loss of supply, said said Mamiche will absorb the higher cost of butter to keep French staples affordable for its customers, but Perilla's Marks said it's 'inevitable' that diners will face higher prices. The heat wave seen in Europe in recent weeks could also exacerbate the situation. High temperatures can reduce yields from diary cows, while also pushing up demand for other products that compete with butter for the fatty cream taken off the top of fans reaching for cream to accompany their strawberries as they watch Wimbledon, or workers cooling down with an ice cream in city plazas, 'can only hold butter prices up,' said Stannard.
Time of India
07-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Butter's global price surge hits croissants and kitchens alike
Live Events Bloomberg Bloomberg At the Mamiche bakeries in the 9th and 10th arrondissements of Paris, their famous pains au chocolat and croissants depend on an essential but increasingly scarce ingredient — butter The bakery's regular supplier can no longer provide a steady flow of French beurre de tourage, a type of flat butter used to make the pastries. Mamiche has gone searching elsewhere to ensure the steady flow of sweet treats from its ovens, but it's coming with a cost. Butter prices in most of the world are lingering near record highs, with little end in sight to the surge. It's the result of a complex interplay of factors — challenges faced by dairy farmers from France to New Zealand, changes in Asian consumers' appetites that's spurring global demand, and commercial decisions by milk processors defending their bottom end result is more cost pressure on consumers' favorite foods.'When we have to change supplier, we can really see the difference' said Robin Orsoni, commercial operator for Mamiche. Other providers are charging prices 25% to 30% higher but Mamiche has to absorb the cost because 'we want to make our customers happy, we need the butter.'Around 70% of the butter exported around the world comes from two places — Europe and New Zealand. Each began 2025 with historically low stockpiles, and this supply tightness has caused prices to spike to a record, according to the Food and Agriculture roots of the squeeze can be traced back to 2022, when the price of milk in Europe peaked as inflation and fuel costs hit farmers hard, pushing dairy processors to look at the best way to maximize is made by removing cream from raw milk and churning it. Once the process is complete, you are left with butter and buttermilk, the latter of which 'has some industrial uses, but those are relatively limited,' said Monika Tothova, an economist at the FAO. It's used for some cooking, to make other dairy products, and for livestock contrast, 'if you make cheese, you process the entire volume of milk,' said Tothova. Even the by-product from cheese-making, called whey, is in high demand from commercial food makers for flavoring and nutrition, or gym enthusiasts to bulk out the protein in their Union dairy processors have making more and more cheese. As a result, the bloc's butter production has steadily declined and is expected to hit an eight-year low this season, according to estimates from the US Department of production itself is also becoming more challenging. In Europe, farmers' herd sizes are shrinking due to financial pressures, and they now face added risks to their cows from bluetongue virus, said Jose Saiz, a dairy market analyst at price reporting agency Expana. Lumpy skin disease, which can curb an infected cows' milk yields, is also making its way into Italy and as butter has fallen out of favor with dairy processors, consumers are developing a stronger taste for it, particularly in consumption of butter is expected to grow 2.7% in 2025, outpacing production, according to the USDA. In China demand has already grown by 6% in just one year. Usage in Taiwan between 2024 and 2025 rose 4%, while in India, the world's largest consumer, it is up 3%.Hong Kong's French bakery chain, Bakehouse, has been tapping into Asian consumers changing tastes. Its annual butter use is currently about 180 tons, an increase of 96 tons from the prior year after they opened two new stores, in addition to another 180 tons of cream, according to co-founder Gregoire Michaud. The firm only buys from well established suppliers — New Zealand has a top-tier reputation but China isn't good enough yet, he New Zealand, which is a major dairy exporter and produces about 2.5% of global milk supply, butter production has yet to return to pre-pandemic levels, fluctuating around 500,000 tons a year since in Paris, supply scarcity and high butter prices have forced Hong Kong's Bakehouse to cycle through three different providers in just a short period - from Australia, to New Zealand and then Belgium. Now they're potentially looking for a consumers are also eating more butter, which for years was shunned for being unhealthy, as they look to cut ultra-processed foods out of their of pure block butter in the UK have grown, said Susie Stannard, lead dairy analyst at the UK Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board. 'Consumers who can afford it will still buy butter,'she said, but they aren't immune from price the newly opened Morchella restaurant in London's Clerkenwell district, the brown butter and bread that was so popular at its sister eatery, Perilla in Newington Green, has been replaced with olive the recent price hikes 'you'd put a lot of butter into the pan to base that piece of fish and meat,' said Ben Marks, who heads up the kitchens at Perilla. 'Now you've just got be much cleverer.'Relief for consumers isn't expected to come any time soon. Butter prices are also affected by the global conflicts, supply chain disruptions and tariff wars that have roiled every other this 'very hot market,' Hong Kong's Bakehouse is now prioritizing butter from closer providers to avoid a loss of supply, said said Mamiche will absorb the higher cost of butter to keep French staples affordable for its customers, but Perilla's Marks said it's 'inevitable' that diners will face higher heat wave seen in Europe in recent weeks could also exacerbate the situation. High temperatures can reduce yields from diary cows, while also pushing up demand for other products that compete with butter for the fatty cream taken off the top of fans reaching for cream to accompany their strawberries as they watch Wimbledon, or workers cooling down with an ice cream in city plazas, 'can only hold butter prices up,' said Stannard.
Gulf Insider
03-05-2025
- Business
- Gulf Insider
Global Food Prices Climb Toward Arab Spring-Era Highs Amid Trade War Turmoil
Global food prices surged to a two-year high in April, driven by U.S. tariff policy uncertainty that has injected turmoil across markets. The latest spike brings prices dangerously close to levels that helped fuel the Arab Spring uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa between 2010 and 2012. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) reported on Friday that its Food Price Index—which tracks monthly changes in international prices of globally traded food commodities—averaged 128.3 points in April, up 1% from March and 7.6% from the same month last year. The Food Price Index (FFPI) subcomponents, including cereals, meat, and dairy, mainly were up, while vegetable oils and sugar were down. Here's a breakdown of how FFPI's subcomponents performed in April: Cereals: Up 1.2% from March; wheat rose on tighter Russian exports, rice up on demand for fragrant varieties, maize higher due to low U.S. stocks. Meat: Up 3.2%; pig meat led gains, bovine prices firmed in Australia and Brazil on strong demand and limited supply. Dairy: Up 2.4%; butter hit an all-time high due to declining inventories in Europe, dairy index now 22.9% higher year-over-year. Vegetable Oils: Down 2.3%; palm oil fell with rising Southeast Asian output, soy and rapeseed oil up on strong demand, sunflower oil steady. Sugar: Down 3.5%; decline driven by fears of weakened demand from beverage and food sectors amid uncertain global economic outlook. At 128.3, the FAO said FFPI moved to a two-year high on 'currency fluctuations influencing price movements in world markets, while tariff policy adjustments raised market uncertainty.' Those prices are nearing 2010-12 Arab Spring levels… Bloomberg quoted Monika Tothova, an economist at the FAO, as saying that short-term demand for some ag products has been visible amid the tariff war between President Trump and China. The lingering question is whether the FFPI will continue rising amid tariff uncertainty—or if potential signaling around new trade talks between the U.S. and China suggests this price surge may be temporary. Still concerning is the level at which prices linger and how higher food prices can trigger social destabilization in weak countries.
Toronto Sun
02-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Sun
Global food prices rise to two-year high amid tariff uncertainty
Published May 02, 2025 • Last updated 5 minutes ago • 1 minute read A customer shops at a grocery store in Wheeling, Ill., Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. Photo by Nam Y. Huh / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Global food prices rose to a two-year high in April, a sign that tariff uncertainty is starting to put a squeeze on trade. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account A United Nations index tracking raw commodity costs of food rose to 128.3, a 1% month-on-month jump, taking it levels last seen in March 2023. While it takes time for the impact to filter through to supermarkets and the gauge remains well below a 2022 peak, the move hints at the possibility of pricer groceries after a period when food inflation had eased. 'Currency fluctuations influenced price movements in world markets, while tariff policy adjustments raised market uncertainty,' according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. Countries may have driven up short term demand for some products, said Monika Tothova, an economist at the FAO, by trying to stock up to reduce the impact of tit-for-tat levies set in motion by President Donald Trump's widespread tariffs Other supply concerns also pushed up the price of grains, meat and dairy. Tighter wheat supplies from Russia, the world's top exporter, saw the grain edging up slightly, the FAO said. The rise in dairy, 2.4% on the previous month, was led by international butter prices, which hit a new all-time high due to declining European inventories. While food supplies and prices are often determined by weather, additional volatility, stemming from moves such as US tariffs and the subsequent retaliation from trade partners, had been flagged earlier this year. Despite a 90-day pause on some levies, global food markets have been roiled by the policy back and forth of recent weeks. 'We are always concerned about the dry conditions here and there,' said Tothova, but what is going to happen with trade policy 'and how countries will retaliate, that still remains a big story.'
