From the beginning of the year to May, the price of butter has skyrocketed a staggering 92%. Industry leaders say that this creates an «unsustainable» financial loss for bakers making croissants.
Fabian Castanier, general secretary of the French biscuit and cake makers, declared in a statement on Tuesday that the scenario would continue to get worse and that butter would likely run out.
A baker’s industry spokesperson named Matthieu Labbe echoed the sentiment and added that there would likely be shortages of butter «by the end of the year» if the problem weren’t solved.
Decreasing milk yields across Europe, combined with increasing demand, have led to the inflated butter prices. In order to keep up with the rising costs, industry officials say butter-using businesses will have to «significantly» raise prices. Butter makes up almost a quarter of the ingredients in pastries like croissants and brioches.
Concurrently, French dairy workers rail against their plummeting incomes.
In protest, milk farmers barred entrance outside of dairy processing locations on Tuesday, some even unloading cow manure.
The president of the FNFSEA farmer’s union, Christiane Lambert, explained that these farmers cannot even break even between the prices consumers pay for milk and the expenses of production.
Florian Salmon, a representative of young milk farmers in Iles-de-Verlaine, said that his farmers want an increase of 30 to 40 euros per 1,000 liters of milk. He added that other farmers make approximately 305 euros per 1,000 liters.
Some asked that supermarkets do more to help in the struggle, including Régis Louazon, a protesting dairy farmer. Louazon said that he felt that the supermarkets need to raise their prices accordingly so that farmers receive their due.
Source: French Tribune
Link: http://www.frenchtribune.com/teneur/25425-are-rising-butter-prices-killing-french-croissants
