Dairy becomes more expensive again/ Butter more expensive than meat, reaches 1,600 ALL/kg

In general, dairy products according to the new list in supermarkets for the products of one of the largest companies in the market have become more expensive again from 9 to 30%.

The highest growth was recorded in the product of butter and cow's cheese.

The price of cow's butter has been selling more expensive than meat in supermarkets and grocery stores for days. From the beginning of October, the price of cow's butter in stores has reached 1,500 to 1,600 ALL/kg from 1,250 ALL, which was a month ago. The price has become 20-28% more expensive.

For other dairy products such as: curd, the price has increased by 27% from 220 ALL to 280 ALL; Cow's milk has increased by 13% and sheep's by 9%, the price of cow's cheese has increased by 28%, milk cream has increased by 50%.

The price of butter has been increased by another operator for several days. Taulant Pupa, the administrator of the "Vita 2001" company, said that due to the 75% increase in cow's milk, farmers were forced to increase the price of butter by about 18%. The price of butter from this company is being sold for 1,000 kg from 850 lek that was sold before. While cow's milk from farmers is being sold from 40 per liter for 70 Lek, while large farms sell it for 80 Lek.

Pupa adds that in addition to the cost of milk, the price increase was also influenced by the high demand for butter for the preparation of baklava on the eve of the end of the year holidays, at a time when the seasoned product is in lower quantities than in years.

Other processing companies also point out that the increase in prices has been influenced by the increase in costs. The general director of the company "Lufra" Luis Ndreka said that until now prices have increased 40 to 50% more than last year, due to costs.

"The biggest problem is the shortage of about 15% of milk as a raw material in the country. The difficulty in finding the right amount of milk from the farms has consequently upset the price equilibrium. Today, the price at which milk is being bought at the door of the farm surpasses every country in Europe. Let's not forget that the raw material milk is about 65% of the total cost of the final product and a change in this cost has a very big impact on the total cost", he asserted.

It has already been 1 year since cow's milk is difficult to find on the market. In the months of July-August, the processing factories had a shortage of seasoned cheese.

"This is due to the decrease in the number of small farms. Although the large farms keeping cows have increased in relation to the reduction of small farms, their expansion has no effect on production. The decline of small farms is due to the emigration of young people. The demand for cow's cheese is being met with difficulty with milk from abroad, as imported milk is also difficult to find", another operator added earlier to Monitor.

All market operators for this year have increased the prices of their products from 3 to 5 times. Another increase is expected for the month of March, as it is expected that with the start of sheep and goat milk production, the price will be 20 to 30% higher.