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Stephenson: The reason butter prices are falling

A dairy analyst says the wholesale price of butter is continuing to fall, but the retail price has not fallen.

University of Wisconsin Director of Dairy Policy Analysis Mark Stephenson tells Brownfield the holiday season purchasing by retailers has already been done, so wholesale demand is softer, but retail consumers still haven’t made most of their butter purchases and might be resisting the higher prices.

Stephenson says the butter stocks remain almost as high as they were a year ago, but the inventory drawdown from August to September was not as much as it was during any of the last three years.

Wholesale butter prices tend to bottom out in November and December before working their way back up.