Butter market steady in Switzerland

In the first months of this year, exports of butter from the EU fell by about a quarter, while exports halved in Australia. The exports of butter from the US and New Zealand also declined. Nevertheless, the quantities were completely swallowed by the increasing demand on the home markets.

But general developments on the butter market have not been felt in Switzerland.

“The Swiss market is much less volatile than in Europe. Those, who use butter in their recipes, will remain in the long term. And the ingredients are not changed so quickly,” explains Peter Ryser from the Branch Organization Butter.

In convenience products production, cheap vegetable fat is more generally used.

“The fluctuations in the demand for butter are generally only in the low single-digit percentage range,” says Ryser.

Traditionally, butter prices are much higher in Switzerland than in the rest of Europe.

In the past, Switzerland was still dependent on butter imports in order to be able to cover domestic demand. Ten years ago up to 7,000 tons of butter were imported.

However, Switzerland has changed from a net importer to a net exporter. Only ‘speciality’ butter is imported.

Last year imports of 50 tons stood against exports amounting to 4,500 tons.

In the current year exports are likely to be smaller, because less milk has been delivered and butter storage is almost empty.

The strange thing is that Swiss butter prices have actually declined recently, even though butter production is currently around 15% below the previous year.

“The fact that block butter is internationally more expensive than packaged goods shows that the buyers on the stock exchanges assume that the prices will not yield in the near future, or even rise slightly,” notes Reto Burkhardt of Schweizer Milchproducenten (SMP). But that does not affect the milk prices of Swiss farmers. “There are still stocks, which means there is actually no scarcity that could have a price effect,” he says.