Sales of butter DOUBLE amid surge in home baking during coronavirus pandemic as dairy bosses ramp up production to seven days a week
- Graham’s Family Dairy in Scotland has seen a rise in the production of butter
- Production of butter has increased from four days a week to seven days a week
- Normally produces 50 tonnes of butter a week but now making more than 100
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
The sale of butter has doubled amid a surge in home baking during the coronavirus outbreak, dairy bosses have revealed.
Robert Graham, 49, managing director of Graham’s Family Dairy, which is situated in the Bridge of Allan, Scotland, has seen a dramatic rise in the production of butter as the nation continues to follow the lockdown guidelines.
The dairy company, which was founded in 1939, has increased its production of butter from four days a week to seven days a week in order to meet demand from its retailers.
The Scottish company normally produces 50 tonnes of butter a week but is now making more than 100 tonnes as more people take to home baking and cooking during the lockdown.
The sale of butter has doubled during the coronavirus outbreak at Graham’s Family Dairy which is situated in the Bridge of Allan, Scotland
Robert Graham, 49, managing director of Graham’s Family Dairy, has increased the production of butter from four days a week to seven days a week to meet demands
In April, the dairy company made more than 400,000 packets of butter a week, while sales for the month were around £1.4million – up from £700,000 in January.
Last month the business, which in a typical year sells £10 million worth of butter, also had the highest sales of butter in company history, while the sale of unsalted butter took over that of salted butter for the first time.
Mr Graham said: ‘This is a significant increase in sales for butter. We are now producing 100 tonnes of butter a week, working flat out seven days a week.
‘We normally supply around 1,500 restaurants across Scotland which are obviously closed now, and even taking that into account, we are producing more than usual.
‘We have replaced what we would have lost in those sales and more by the demand from retailers.
‘It’s not something we expected to happen but so much has changed in consumer buying since this all began.’
Mr Graham added that a trend for more natural ingredients had been augmented by the coronavirus crisis, as people have time to consider what they are eating.
He said: ‘My feeling is that maybe people who didn’t bake or cook as much at home before are rediscovering the pleasure and the ritual of it.
‘It is a great thing for people to rediscover as a family.
‘Butter is the second largest product for us after milk and usually accounts for around 10 per cent of our business – that’s certainly well up for April. Dairy is a foundation of health.
‘The natural trend and to eat less processed food has been going for some time and people are now making more food from scratch and doing baking and cooking more at home.’
According to the dairy farm, 90 per cent of the spreadable butter sold in Scotland is not produced here, which could be an issue for other butter products.
The Scottish dairy company normally produces 50 tonnes of butter a week but this has now increased to more than 100 tonnes
Mr Graham said: ‘A lot of the butter sold comes from further away, we are the only Scottish butter available.’
He also said that sales of ice cream had begun to increase earlier in the season than usual.
He added: ‘We have had a good weather week so that has increased ice cream sales – we have seen a significant lift.
‘We are very busy trying to keep up with demand.
‘People are treating themselves to ice cream while they are stuck at home.
‘Sour cream sales have also risen as people cook from scratch at home.’
The dairy company, which was founded by Mr Graham’s grandfather Robert in 1939, won the Best Dairy Product at The Scotland Food & Drink Excellence Awards in 2016.
This month it was revealed that farmers across the country were forced to pour a million litres of milk down the drain in April. (Stock image)
It has now launched an online campaign £CookingTogetherApart to encourage families to keep connected and bake together via technology.
The increase in sales comes after it was revealed that farmers across the country had been left struggling to distribute milk and were forced to pour a million litres of milk down the drain in April as demand from factories nose-dived due to the virus outbreak.
UK farmers made a £7million loss from sales last month as more than half cut the price of their milk, and face £13million losses in May, the study by industry bodies Dairy UK and AHDB said.
The research, reported on in The Grocer, also found 75 per cent of Britain’s dairy farmers said they had felt the impact of Covid-19 with 12 per cent saying they had been seriously affected.
The report, which will be presented to DEFRA, also showed that 24 per cent said they had been asked to reduce costs by their customers.
WHY ARE FARMERS STRUGGLING TO DISTRIBUTE MILK?
The Covid-19 outbreak has seen the almost complete shutdown of the hospitality sector, as well as increasing price volatility in global markets, which has left farm businesses and processors under increased pressure.
With restaurants and coffee shops closed the demand from the food service industry for milk has plummeted by as much as 50 per cent.
This has led to some dairy farmers with no other option but to dispose of milk on farm.
Dairy distributors have also failed to turn up to collect supplies as their processing plants are full and they have reached their storage capacity.
National Farmers’ Union President Minette Batters has called on Defra Secretary of State, George Eustice, to take immediate steps to ensure the sustainability of the dairy sector.
She said earlier this month: ‘We believe there may be at least 2,000 dairy farmers suffering severe financial pressure and that number is growing by the day as a result of the impacts of the coronavirus outbreak and as things develop very few dairy businesses will be left unaffected.
‘We need to move fast to mitigate the impacts of this unfolding crisis on dairy farming businesses across the country.
Source: Read Full Article