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Butter imports higher during 2024 despite record U.S. production

Consumers have had a strong appetite for butter in 2024.

Dairy Economist Corey Geiger with CoBank tells Brownfield consumption was up 11 percent in the U.S.

“We’re making more butter than we ever did in the United States, and amazingly right now through October, we have as a country imported 178 billion pounds of butter,” he shares. “Even though we’re making a record volume of butter, we’re importing twice as much as we did four years ago.”

He says the Kerrygold brand from Ireland is the largest importer of butter into the U.S.

“Many of the European style butters have about 82% butterfat, so just a little more cream, a little more flavor,” he explains. “There’s some work being done by butter processors here in the United States to also make that type of product.”

Geiger says butter prices were about 15 percent higher than 2023 for several months this year but are now softening some.

Consumer butter prices set a new national average retail high in September.