Butter is in short supply in France due to strong foreign demand. The price of butter has risen by 60 percent in 12 months, according to government figures, resulting in problems for specialist exporters and a shortage on supermarket shelves that’s hitting consumers.
China and the Middle East in particular have developed a taste for French butter, and products in which it is used, according to Dominique Charge, who heads the national cooperative of dairy products.
So serious is the situation that over the weekend Le Figaro ran an article on how to cook without butter. The problem is expected to worsen by Christmas, provoking an acute crisis for producers of traditional pastries and a shortage for French customers where it hurts most, in the stomach.
Meanwhile, several French producers have refused to contemplate imports of butter from other EU countries, since the quality is not up to their own high standards.
One local restaurant in Port Hercules told Monaco Life that butter supply so far has not be affected, but the price has.