Japan Struggles to Meet Surprising Demand for Butter
apan has so far escaped the shortages of rice besetting other nations, but it's running short of a food product the Japanese once disparagingly associated with foreigners _ butter.
The Agriculture Ministry said Thursday it ordered the nation's four major dairy producers to churn out more butter because the product is disappearing fast from store shelves as a result of a fall in milk supplies and higher demand from consumers, who are eating more bread these days.
Official Tsuyoshi Hashimoto said increased domestic production is more attractive than stepped up imports because foreign butter has become more expensive. A drought in Australia drove up the cost of cattle feed and demand for butter also has risen elsewhere in Asia.
The butter shortage is somewhat ironic for Japan, where Westerners centuries ago were told they ''smelled of butter.'' But today, Japanese households consume about 13,800 tons of butter a year, and more is used by bakeries and other businesses.
The Agriculture Ministry told Meiji Dairies Corp., Snow Brand Milk Products Co., Yotsuba Inc. and Morinaga Milk Industry Co. to release inventory and increase production by as much as 20 percent of their monthly average.
Shops are running short of butter because production hasn't kept pact with demand.
That is partly because dairy farmers on Japan's northern Hokkaido island have cut raw milk output amid flagging consumption of milk in recent years. At the same time, dairy producers have allocated more raw milk to cream and milk-based drinks, which often make bigger profits than butter.
Hashimoto said the butter scarcity might have escalated because consumers overreacted and rushed to grocery stores to stock up.
Officials also hope demand will ease when a butter price hike of 8 percent to 10 percent takes effect this month.
''The bottom line is, however, butter is not our staple food,'' Hashimoto said. ''Personally, I can happily switch to margarine.''
05/01/2008 02:27 PM
By MARI YAMAGUCHI Associated Press Writer
TOKYO
apan has so far escaped the shortages of rice besetting other nations, but it's running short of a food product the Japanese once disparagingly associated with foreigners _ butter.
