business
Butter has become particularly expensive in recent months. According to the Chamber of Labor Upper Austria, the price rose by up to 77 percent in the previous year, depending on the product, Agrarmarkt Austria (AMA) speaks of a price increase of 32 percent.
The bread and butter can still be found on many breakfast and snack tables in the country. In a price comparison, the Chamber of Labor found that a kilogram of tea butter was sold for 5.98 euros in September 2021, in December 2022 the price was 10.36 euros. According to figures from the AMA, butter is still being bought frequently, despite the enormous price increases.
The reason for the price increase
But the reason why butter of all dairy products costs so much more can be explained by the increased use of raw materials, says Berglandmilch boss Josef Braunshofer. After all, you need 20 liters of milk to produce one kilogram of butter, but only half that to produce one kilogram of cheese. For yogurt, the ratio is one to one.
The additional costs in milk production are also reflected in the butter price. “Of course we can’t determine the final shelf prices, that’s determined by the food trade,” said Braunshofer in an interview with ORF Upper Austria, “but I don’t assume that there will be further price increases for butter in the next six months”.
Run for actions
Especially with butter, the pricing is particularly delicate, says Braunshofer, because many people look very closely at the price: “If there have been promotions in the last few months, these have been noticed much more strongly and more has been bought. Then there were a few percentage points more in sales.” The Berglandmilch boss attributes this “already to the current situation”.