over the last two months or so I've noticed in the various falang supermarkets/shops like foodland friendship BigC etc the declining options for good butter, I'm not going to mention my favorite but it is now unavailable in any of the popular falang shopping locals and my second and third choice has also dissappeared.....what is going on ?

was in friendship today and the selection was pretty poor

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Stop buying sour cream as well. Try making Crem Fraiche! Cheaper and better!

A good guess is the flooding disrupted the supply.

Lots of stuff has gone missing from the shelves I notice.

Also Tesco was in short supply.

A good guess is the flooding disrupted the supply.

Lots of stuff has gone missing from the shelves I notice.

I noticed the term "good" butter in the op, which suggests to me the imported stuff so I don't think it's related to the flooding. I too have noticed a diminished supply of the imported stuff...maybe the European cows are on strike because of the austerity measures like the Greeks and apparently the Belgiums now too.

I usually buy Anchor and my second choice is Orchid - they are nowhere to be found

I usually buy Anchor and my second choice is Orchid - they are nowhere to be found

And bloody expensive those local butter brands are too! Three years ago 220g sold for 36 baht and now for between 78 and 84. By international standards 4 Euro for a pound of butter is obscene!

I would imagine that import duty on butter is as high as any other imported goods into Thailand, the local are just trying to jump on the bandwagon with a substandard product, I even know some falangs that are making butter and cheese and charging a fortune for it, I wondering have the locals somehow blocked the import of these produces to improve their sales levels

I usually buy Anchor and my second choice is Orchid - they are nowhere to be found

I agree with those choices. How would you rate Imperial brand in comparison? The missus just returned from Makro with a 227gr pack for 72baht. I can't remember if it is good or not but it must be better than Allowrie.

Allowrie is actually my 3rd choice, it is the only local brand that doesn't taste like margrine but it is not anywhere near the same as the other two, I have actually sent an email to Anchor asking them why their product is not available here at the moment

I find Allowrie a bit on the sweet side but in a pinch it will do. For a little more money there is Lurpak. I make a pie once in a while and I use butter so the quality of the butter is important to me

I was also wondering what happened when I tried to buy butter this morning in foodland.

I was also wondering what happened when I tried to buy butter this morning in foodland.

Try " Lotus Express" the ones slightly out of town ....I've manage to buy butter there over the last week or so..

It often seems to happen during the high season. Too many tourists, or farangs over-wintering here, buy up all the stock of certain 'luxury' items. Two years back Friendship was sold out of the excellent Nut Walker large cashew nuts for around 2 months. I asked why and was told that when they got some more, a farang would come in and buy the whole lot in one go. The good stuff like Anchor salted butter often runs out. I guess it takes time for them to export sufficient new supplies, and anyway Bangkok probably gets priority over Pattaya. Best to stock up with the goodies before high season, IMHO.

and they are suprised every year that they use so much more of it.... maybe it would be time to just order more for high season.

Anchor butter first disappeared from foodland about Nov time others where still available, frienship still had it then it when from their shelves too, next to go was BigC, I'm not sure this is related to high season at all - it didn't happen last year, there is something else going on

As from 11:00 am 01/02/12 there's butter a plenty on the Shelves at MAKRO

It's a funny thing, but when I moved here years ago I imagimed that the choice of food available would increase each year. In reality, products disappear, never to be seen again. Good butter is just the latest.

It might be that you feel the lack of butter on a more global scale.

In Sweden there was a butter shortage last autum. Norway still have to import butter after failed harvest during 2011. Finland recently had butter shortage because dairies sold their produce to Russia with better profit. I guess that implies there was a butter shortage in russia too. There is also shortages in border regions to the EU, where recent member and border countries get better prices when selling to the older and richer members in the EU.

The "butter mountain" is history. In the EU supply and demand is close to balance now.

In short the few countries that produce butter for export get more demand for their goods. As with all diary products supply can't follow demand overnight. Its the price to pay for more free trade.