New demand for butter and cream good news for Island producers

An increased demand nationally for butter and cream is good news for P.E.I. dairy producers, who will see a two per cent increase in their quota next week.

On the first of December, all provinces in Eastern Canada get the two per cent increase, in a combined industry ramp-up to meet the new demand.

Harold MacNevin, chair of the Dairy Farmers of PEI, called the market for butter the highest he's ever seen.

"Part of the reason that there`s such a demand is that dairy fat like butter and cream is now considered to be part of a healthy diet," MacNevin explained. "Consumers are starting to consume more."

That's caused stocks across the country to fall very low. The Canadian Dairy Commission does keep extra inventory in case of a shortage, but that's being used up quickly.

Unprecedented demand for butter

"We're kind of in an unprecedented situation right now, we're kind of lagging behind the market," explained MacNevin.

"Producers will meet that demand but not immediately," he said.

"You need more cows, you need more feed. It just doesn't happen overnight. Hopefully there won`t be any shortages that consumers will see in the retail stores."

In the meantime, a time-honoured system is being ramped up that flows from P.E.I. to Central Canada.

Because milk is a raw product which has to be processed right away, instead of sending it directly to Ontario, P.E.I. milk is sent to New Brunswick.

Then New Brunswick's milk goes to Quebec, and Quebec milk is shipped to Ontario.

The cascading supply system has been in place for 20 years.

MacNevin said there won't be any increase in the price of butter and cream on the Island.

If anything, he suspects retailers will put the items on sale to continue bringing in more customers.