French croissant prices set to increase in wake of butter shortage
France is facing a butter shortage, according to the Independent. Prices have risen by 92% in a year, threatening French staples like croissants and pains au chocolat.
Butter is a key ingredient in viennoiseries of all types, as anyone who has ever watched the Great British Bake Off knows. A croissant, for instance, is made of 20% butter. Not that the prices are set to rise, going to the boulangerie might set you back more than you’re used to.
“Last April, we were paying €2,500 a tonne,”said Matthieu Labbé of the baking industry body FEB (Federation des Entrepreneurs de la Boulangerie). “Now it’s €5,300. At best, consumers are going to have to pay more. At worst, we may no longer be able to get butter.”
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The level of price for butter is unprecedented. It is reportedly a “major crisis“. Labbé said they’re trying to find more butter and hoping to avoid having to stop production altogether. Fabien Castanier of the federation of French biscuit and cake-makers thinks there’s a “real risk of butter running out”. The crisis is attributed to the lack of milk, which has been a problem since May 2016.
The solution might be to demand dairy producers to make more butter. “Prices won’t double,” Labbé said. “But there will have to be significant increases or some bakers could really be in difficulty.”
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