Butter my arse

Written by: adekun on 30 May, 2008 10:06 pm - Filed under: blog

Towards the end of March notices appeared above the empty butter shelves. The general theme was an apology from the supermarket manager saying they are unsure when the next delivery will be. Although it hasn’t been the most fervent of searches, Monday brought an end to over a month without any respite. I spotted a few blocks. They must have just had a delivery and I was in the right place at the right time. A steal I thought at ¥368 for a scant 200 g. Along with the ridiculously priced apples and flour, pie making will have to wait (probably indefinitely). I also spotted seven cherries for ¥298.
There have been many stories covering this phenomenon. Hashimoto an official at the Ministry of Agriculture was quoted “Drought in Australia which pushed up the cost of cattle feed and bulging demand for butter elsewhere in Asia are making butter imports more expensive and shoppers are turning to made in Japan butter. The bottom line is, however, butter is not our staple food. Personally, I can happily switch to margarine.”
I don’t understand the mechanics but there quite a bit more going on. Why aren’t other countries facing similar problems?
Back in 2006 there was a bit of a glut. Being tightly controlled by the government the dairy farmers were forced to buy back their milk (or their cow’s milk) and pour it down the drain. Many cows were knocked on the head. There are similar issues with stockpiles of skimmed milk a by-product of the butter making process. Now that world’s traditional exporters are at the point of importing or diverting elsewhere, the big corporations have turned to raiding the domestic larder of fresh milk to produce the more lucrative coffee drinks, cheeses etc.
So why not import some butter? There is the tariff hurdle the bureaucrats fail to mention. The latest figure I can find, published a year ago is 29.8% plus ¥1159 per kg. I’ve seen total tariff figures of 700-800% mentioned. I couldn’t find any import prices, even rough figures based MDC Datum worldwide wholesale prices, works out to close to 500% last May and 350% this month (given the rises), making the above seem credible.
Even if the now sceptical farmers look to increase their flock, the earliest Heifers can calve at 24 months (needing extra costly feed). While there many agricultural tariffs in place, the WTO is being lobbied to prevent poorer (and starving) countries curbing their exports. There is talk on raising the self sufficiency rate here, what about sustainability without subsidies?

Tags: food and drink, news, politics, whinge