Butter shortage in the Baltic region
Butter has been absent on supermarket shelves in several Latvian regions, local news reports state. Amidst the shrinking dairy industry in the country, retailers deny a shortage in the market.
Consumers took to social media and noted a shortage of butter in retailers during November 2024. Some reports question whether the empty shelves are associated with the crisis in the market of neighbouring Russia, where a standard 200g block of butter now costs around 200 rubles (€2), with prices up 30% since December 2023. However, Latvian officials have refrained from comments about the reasons for the lack of butter.
Estonia relies on imports
Estonia experienced a butter shortage in August 2024. Martin Miido, press officer with a local food retailer, Coop, stated that there was a lack of butter, attributing it to a lack of milk with high fat content in Estonia. The leading dairy manufacturers in the country, Tere and Farmi, have recently moved their butter production to new locations. To fill the gaps, Coop had to switch to butter imports from other Baltic countries, Miido said.
Dairy producers in the region indicate that a particularly hot summer is likely to have impacted the industry. Cows experiencing heat stress and producing less milk could lead to the lack of butter. This is not the first time that has been seen in the sector. A similar crisis in the Baltic region happened in 2017, which resulted in a short supply of butter in the market.
Rising farmgate prices
In addition, the number of dairy farms in operation in Latvia keeps shrinking.
Despite this, there is optimism since the average farmgate price in the country jumped from €35.25 to €40.55 per 100 kg. In terms of farmgate price, Latvia caught up with Slovenia but still lags behind Germany or France.
Latvian dairy farmers are benefitting from growing cooperation in the industry. Janis Ločmelis, chairman of the Piena Loģistika cooperative council, has unveiled that 102 milk farmers have already united and concluded long-term agreements with 10 dairy processing plants, guaranteeing stability. The success of this practice will likely encourage other farmers also to join dairy cooperatives.
