As soaring butter prices have become a political hot potato for the Polish government, suffering blame from the public, the Donald Tusk-led administration has announced the release of 1,000 tonnes of the dairy product.
The Government’s Strategic Reserves Agency (RARS) in its statement justifying the decision on December 17 noted: “The price of butter has recently increased significantly on world markets, which is primarily the result of a shortage of milk.”
“This situation has also affected Poland [and] in order to stabilise the situation on the market, RARS has announced a tender for the sale of large quantities of butter.”
The agency is to sell around 1,000 tonnes of frozen unsalted butter from its reserves in 25kg blocks with a minimum sale price of €6.65 per kg with minimum bids of 20 tonnes to be made by December 19.
The price of butter has become a major issue in the presidential election set for May 2025, with Rafał Trzaskowski, Tusk’s Civic Coalition (KO) candidate using it in his speech during a party convention on December 7. He said the butter price was an example of the failings of both the previous Conservative (PiS) government and the PiS allied head of the central bank (NBP) Adam Glapiński.
“Ten zloty [€2.5] for a stick of butter – that is what Glapiński has brought about,” said Trzaskowski, adding: “I will not allow it!,” without explaining what action he could take regarding the price of butter if elected.
A stick of butter in Polish shops usually weighs 200 grammes, so a kilogram of butter in some shops currently exceeds €12.
Voters do not seem to agree that it was the PiS and Glapiński who caused the price rise. In a poll by the Pollster agency for the daily Super Express, published on December 17, most blamed the government, with 52 per cent, while 20 per cent pointed the finger at the central bank chief and 14 per cent citing the PiS leader Jarosław Kaczyński.
Deputy agriculture minister Michał Kołodziejczak told Super Express the government was not responsible for the situation, which he said was largely the result of lower milk production in western Europe.
Opposition PiS figures criticised the government for what they called “panic selling” of butter reserves, describing it as a “PR stunt” ahead of May’s presidential election.
PiS MP Janusz Cieszyński told the Polish Press Agency (PAP) that the move would “only meet demand for around 2 million Poles or 1.5 days’ worth of total monthly consumption of butter in Poland”.
