Butter and cheese are increasing in price again !!

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kuaka, Apr 12, 6:41am
Just announced on the 6pm news that the price of butter and cheese are going up yet again.It said that butter has already increased by 65% in the last two years.Have to wonder if we will be able to afford it soon.Maybe we should all boycott it.If we don't buy it maybe they will stop increasing the price.
gragra1, Apr 12, 6:46am
Won't make a blind bit of difference. 95% of our production is exported anyway. If there's no local market we will just export the lot at a better price.
nfh1, Apr 12, 6:46am
I wonder if it has affected sales or whether they are just considered such staples that the price increases has no affect on sales?
elliehen, Apr 12, 6:50am
I was puzzled today in NW that there were no 1kg blocks at all 'on special' and there's usually at least one brand.They must have been waiting on a decision from on high about how much of the price hike to pass on to customers.
kuaka, Apr 12, 6:55am
Well I recall on one of the previous price hikes, the big-wig of Fonterra saying that the domestic market has to pay the same as the world market (don't ask me why, surely the transport costs are less) and as we are such a small market, they basically couldn't give a stuff.I did notice though, that when the new prices came in, and there were no specials, there was also a significant drop in sales, and eventually there were "specials" and the "normal" price has actually decreased slightly from it's previous high.(I'm talking tasty cheese here)
kay141, Apr 12, 7:34am
Some of the New Worlds down here now longer stock any cheese in bigger blocks than 500g. They say the customers can't afford them and therefor they don't sell.
kuaka, Apr 12, 8:20am
well looks like it's about to get worse!
dezzie, Apr 12, 8:34am
Its the goodman feilder stuff thats going up as far as I know.
Elliehen, I actually grabbed 3 blocks of tasty at the local NW last friday because they were under $11,(10.79 I think) was just the budget stuff, but we usually buy that or valuemetric anyway.
elliehen, Apr 12, 8:58am
That was a lucky grab - that's a great price for tasty.I always go for the best price and don't even bother to look at the brand.
roys351, Apr 12, 9:19am
i buy several blocks at a time when it on special (still expensive though) and freeze some, it does go crumbly but it still good to cook with
kuaka, Apr 12, 9:25am
well I guess it depends on your tastebuds and just "how" tasty, you like your tasty cheese.I've tried the budget brands, valumetric etc, and to be honest, they are not as tasty as Mainland tasty, which is my preferred brand.When cheese did it's last major increase in price, I was so disappointed with the budget brands, that I just didn't buy cheese for over a year, until I noticed the price of Mainland was creeping back down just a bit.I only buy it when it's on special anyway.
roys351, Apr 12, 9:46am
the thing that pisses me off is we live in dairy country and i carnt afford butter so have to use margarine for baking as for cheese we go through alot, the kids love it I DONT WANT TO HEAR PEOPLE SAYING YOUR BETTER OFF WITH LESS DAIRY YOU CAN TAKE A RUNNING JUMP
vintagekitty, Apr 12, 10:38am
I hope there is a Govt. Enquiry into this, it's wrong, wrong, wrong
kuaka, Apr 12, 11:03am
I couldn't agree more roys351 - I also get cheesed off (pardon the pun) when my sister phones me from the UK and tells me she's got a fresh leg of NZ lamb for her Sunday roast which she has bought at Tesco for 3.99kg (yes, that's pounds sterling - but with the exchange rate the way it is right now, that works out to about $8.25 - $8.50 kg give or take).When it's on special here, it's twice that price!How come?
korbo, Apr 12, 1:50pm
more like 4 times the price kuaka.
sleyle, Apr 12, 8:00pm
I thought Fonterra was putting a price block on dairy?Or was that just milk?
seaspray1, Apr 12, 8:13pm
We were on the Gold Coast last week and 2 litres of milk retailed at $2.00.Not all brands or all varieties of the brand but certainly you could buy a 2 litre of light blue milk at that price.Someone said that the Government had stepped in.We also bought a 1kg block of tasty cheddar for $7.99.Even taking a 25% exchange rate into that the Australians are still buying better than us.

Edited for my poor spelling
lythande1, Apr 12, 8:20pm
I am picky about my cheese. The only cheddar I buy is properly aged stuff, has to be 2years +. The cheapest of those is Mainlands Epicure. I could buy Old Southern or kapiti but it's more expensive again.
The thing with proper cheese is it has a lot of flavour, so with cooking you don't need much at all.
Friend used to buy those blocks of soap, and I got her to try cheese sauce with mine, couple of spoons versus the 1/2 cup she used to stick in it. Also doesn't go like glue either using less.
Pity it's going up yet again but I don't intend to be cheese-less or revert to crap cheese either.
Butter on the other hand - I use it for baking which I do rarely anyway so that doesn't bother me.
nfh1, Apr 12, 9:45pm
Wow - I have never seen it that cheap.It is usually about GBP7.00 per kg dependant on the cut.The premium cuts would probably be nearer to 11GBP/kg and more.
cookessentials, Apr 12, 10:15pm
Gosh, I have not had cheese in probably a year or more...apart from the odd brie or Kikorangi blue cheese. "ordinary" cheese has not been in our house for ages. As for butter, I bought one or two when they were on special and froze them, using on the odd occasion that I bake.
kuaka, Apr 12, 10:19pm
nfh - well my sister phones me most weekends, (she gets free phone calls to NZ at the weekends) and she is constantly telling me that Tesco have fresh NZ legs of lamb on special at 3.99kg (pounds sterling).I see the NZ dollar this morning is worth just a tad over 48p - every time I go to the UK it's around 32 or 33p, in fact one time it was worth only 29p.I would say that Tesco are "loss-leading" on this particular item, but if that is the case, then why can't our supermarkets do the same.She also buys NZ wines in Tesco cheaper than we can buy them here.Seems to me there is something very screwy going on when this happens.I'm sure I should be able to buy NZ lamb which has been slaughtered only a few kms from where I live at a cheaper price than it is sold half a world away.Actually last time I was in the UK my sister specially cooked a leg of NZ lamb when I went to her place for a meal as I had told her we can't afford to buy it here.It was delicious.

Mind you, my brother-in-law also told me on the phone last weekend, that he'd been to a local butcher where my neice lives in Hove, and they had a leg of lamb for sale and it was 30 pounds for the leg.
vintagekitty, Apr 12, 11:56pm
we will have to go back to house cows again soon!
seniorbones, Apr 13, 12:03am
gosh I buy butter everyweek for baking - cant stand marg in my cakes - and a 1kg block of cheese I bought last week, I asked hubby what did he think I paid for this 'holding up for him to see' he thought $4-5 ...$13.00!! but I eat it everyday and already 1/2 gone and only bought friday! I spent $267.00 on grocers friday and there is only two of us, got a 4c petrol coupon, missed a couple of things, went back sat and spect $11 and got a 3c petrol coupon!!!! cant even win there now.
dezzie, Apr 13, 12:27am
They have to the supermarkets, its just goodman feilders milk thats going up, because they still have to pay the real price to fonterra.
dezzie, Apr 13, 12:36am
lol your sister is telling you porkies I think...
http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/shelves/Fresh_Meat_in_Tesco.html
thats their online shopping site, and it says that NZ lamb is 11.67 pounds per kilo there.
Its a handy wee site to go wandering around if you have a spare minute or ten, has their 4 main supermarkets