It looks like butter prices got jealous of what egg prices were doing. Butter prices rising at the rate they’re going puts more strain on household budgets here in Schuylkill County.
On a trip to the grocery store on Saturday, we noticed the price of our favorite brand of butter at $6.19 per pound. It was enough to make you say, “What the … “
That’s up more than a dollar since we last bought butter and is indicative of a trend with butter prices since about this time last year.
But so far this year, it’s hard to keep it on the chart.
Butter Prices Rising – $4.88/Pound Nationwide
Check out this actual chart from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which tracks the price of butter. See, it’s almost off the chart (and this chart is clearly behind a bit):
According to BLS, the average cost for a pound of butter nationwide in January was $4.88. BLS updates this data monthly. At this time last year, the cost of a pound of butter was $3.67. That’s a 33% increase in a year.
Now, it appears the store where we shop is a bit high on its price of Keller’s butter, so we checked out what we figured is the least expensive grocery store in Schuylkill County, Walmart.
The story was similar there, but prices are a little more in line with the national averages. You can see below that the private label brand of butter is $4.48 a pound. And our favorite, Keller’s, is at $4.96.
So, why is the price of butter so high? The corporate mainstream news is reporting that it’s an after-effect of the COVID pandemic response, during which many dairy farmers allegedly thinned their herds, causing milk production to slow.
It’s possible this rise in butter prices could continue for several months before herd sizes are increased again.
Photo: Coal Region Canary
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