Spain: Palm oil’s bad reputation triggers butter price
In 2017, the price of butter grew by 10% and so far this year it has already increased by 18%. According to Nielsen, this product is taking advantage of the fall from grace of other fats such as the palm oil.
In 2017, the price of butter grew by 10% and so far this year it has already increased by 18%. According to Nielsen, this product is taking advantage of the fall from grace of other fats such as the palm oil.
After fuels and fresh fruits, butter is the most expensive item among all those included in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) recorded by the Spanish National Institute of Statistics. This is even more strange if one takes into account that the Spaniards have never been big consumers of butter and barely use it for cooking. In addition, butter has always had a bad reputation as considered less healthy than olive oil.
In 2017, after six years of fairly stable prices, the butter price rocketed 10% and its demand went in parallel: volume sales grew 9% and its turnover improved 19%.
According to the report by Nielsen, butter has taken advantage of the bad reputation other fats have acquired, such as palm oil, margarine and other vegetable fats. Sales of margarine, for example, already fall by 2% and its billing by 3% so far this year.
Sector sources rule out that in Spain there may be a problem of butter supply, as it is in France, where consumption is much higher. That the price of butter is so high is “an opportunity for the Spanish dairy sector to export to other markets”.
Source: El Mundo