BUTTER prices are soaring with everyone having to watch their wallet when out at the supermarket.
Shoppers were left outraged recently after a 750g tub of Lurpak butter hit £7.25 at Sainsbury’s.
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But The Sun team has taken a closer look.
We analysed prices using Trolley.co.uk and looked at the cost of big spreadable brand and supermarket own-brand ranges yesterday.
We also looked the cost of own-brand and branded butter (the kind that doesn’t go in the fridge).
Trolley.co.uk compares prices across supermarkets including Asda, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Waitrose, Iceland, Aldi, Morrisons and Co-op.
Prices shown are what is currently available on the day and may not be the same in store.
Prices change daily – so it’s important to shop around and compare before you shop.
In general “classic” stick butter is cheaper than spreadable. Spreadable usually contains oil – to make it easy to use straight out of the fridge – and this is makes it more expensive.
Also, always look at the price per kg. It helps you compare prices and find the cheapest one.
Many shoppers assume that the bigger the item, the better the value – but you’ll see in our results below, that isn’t always the case.
Here are how the big brands and own-brands compare:
Cheapest butter
You’ll get more butter for your buck with a standard pack that isn’t spreadable.
The cheapest branded butter is currently Kerrygold and Anchor unsalted, which both cost £2, for the 250g size when we checked.
The most expensive is Lurpack unsalted – costing £2.50.
While the cheapest own-brand butter – which comes in a 250g size – is from Co-op at £1.50.
The most expensive we found is M&S for £2 or Morrisons at £1.99 for the same size stick.
Now we’ll take a look at how the big brands compare. If you’re prepared to switch from these products to traditional butter, then you could make a big saving.
For each one we’ll tell you where to buy the best value tub for your brand right now.
And how much extra shoppers could end up spending if they don’t shop around.
Lurpack
Shoppers were outraged this week when a 750g tub hit £7.25 at Sainsbury’s – but buying this size tub is actually the best value way to secure your favourite butter right now.
Instead you’ll need to buy it from Tesco where it’s currently £5.30 and works out to 71p per 100g.
Our research also reinforces why shoppers need to shop around and compare prices – if they don’t, it could end up paying 33%.
That’s because the most expensive price we found for a tub of 500g Lurpack spreadable is a whopping £5. That’s £1.25 more expensive than Sainsbury’s.
Anchor
The best value tub of Anchor spreadable we found was from Sainsbury’s, where it costs £4.75 today – or 70p per 100g – for a 750g tub.
You could end up spending 26% more if you don’t shop around. The different in price for the 500g tub is £3.75 at Iceland and Asda and the most expensive one we found was £4.75.
Kerrygold
There’s only one size available for Kerrygold spreadable – that’s 250g.
The cheapest price rise now is £2.30 in Sainsbury’s which is 92p per 100g.
This was the only price listed on Trolley.co.uk, so we couldn’t find a more expensive one.
Country Life
Country Life spreadable only comes in two sizes – 500g and 750g.
The best value price we found was £4 at Sainsbury’s for a 700g tub – that works out at 53p per 100g.
The 500g tub was good value too. With the £2.75 tub from Co-op and B&M costing 55p per 100g.
Shoppers can expect to spend almost double if they don’t shop around.
Cheapest own brand spreadable
We also looked at prices for own-brand spreadable in the 500g sizes.
The cheapest we found was Aldi’s Nordpak – at £2.15. The most expensive we found was Co-op’s slight salted spreadable which costs £2.80.
Why are prices rising?
We’ve found butter prices have DOUBLED since January for top brands.
This is due to rising inflation – it’s pushing up the cost of manufacturing and this is leading to suppliers increasing the price they sell items to supermarkets for.
Supermarkets are then passing on the price increase to shoppers.
Some are trying to mitigate these prices – but unfortunately it’s happening to lots of other products and dairy ones have seen bigger rises.
The Grocer reported that the cost of some cheese and block butter lines in the major supermarkets have risen more than a quarter over the past four weeks.
Analysis found there were more than 280 price hikes for cheese and butter in Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons, Waitrose, Aldi and Lidl from 6 to 27 June.
Supermarkets are under pressure as wholesale prices for dairy have increased recently.
A report by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board showed that UK wholesale butter prices went up 2% between 23 May 23 and June 24.
This wasn’t as bad as the wholesale cost of cream, which shot up by 6% for the same period.
“Consumers will be experiencing some price rises for some of their favourite dairy products,” said Dr Judith Bryans, chief executive of Dairy UK, a non-profit organisation that advocates for the UK’s dairy industry.
“Consumers will be experiencing some price rises for some of their favourite dairy products.”
She said this is a result of the difficult trading environment in which processors, dairy farmers and the wider food industry has found itself for many months.
“It’s tough out there and the dairy sector has not been immune from the inflationary pressures facing the rest of society,” she added.
The Sun contacted Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s, Asda, Aldi, Iceland, M&S and Co-op for comment.
