Butter We Are Malnourished

According to official statistics, the volume of domestic production and imports of butter does not cover the necessary minimum requirement in Azerbaijan.

Minimum Requirement

According to the Cabinet decision of 2014 in the minimum consumer basket minimum consumption of butter per capita should reach 6.7 kg per year. For 9 million 705.6 thousand people the minimal need for butter should be 65,027 tons.

In 2015, the country imported 10,906 tons, while Azerbaijan produced 23,935 tons. Balance from 2014 to 2015 was 8,904 tons. So the total was 43,745 tons.

Official statistics says that Azerbaijan is 69.2% self-sufficient in butter. Dependence on imports was 31.5% in 2015. However, it should be noted that this amount is based on ensuring the amount of consumption of 43,745 tons. And if we take the minimum requirement ascertained by the government – 65,027 tons and the production of butter, the local production covers it by 36.8%.

It is clear from the statistics that the manufacture and import of butter do not cover even the minimum requirement. However, in Azerbaijan stores have no deficiency in butter. And statistics show that some butter reserve remains in Azerbaijan at the end of each year. What is the reason that people who have traditionally preferred to consume butter, so suddenly lost interest in this product?

First of all it can be justified by high butter prices in connection with what the absolute majority of the housewives use for cooking food in vegetable oil or oil substitutes. In Soviet times, people traditionally used butter. For example, in the 80s for the minimum wage (70 rubles) you could buy (3.50 rubles per kg) 20 kg of butter, in 2014 (AZN 105 and AZN 6.50 per kg) - 16 kg, and today (116 manat and 12.50 manat per kg) – 9.3 kg.

The period of high income from oil (2008-2014) showed some growth in butter consumption and a gradual return of the population to the consumption of butter in connection with the growth of people's well-being. However, in 2015, consumption dropped sharply due to the economic crisis, the devaluation of the manat and the rising inflation.

Devaluation and Its Impact on Oil Market

While on January 1, 2015 (the first devaluation was in February 2015), the average price of butter per kg in Azerbaijan amounted to AZN 6.50, a year later the price rose to 10.80 manat. At the beginning of 2017 a kg of butter already cost 11.50-12.50 manat.

In other words, many people simply do not have the financial capacity to provide themselves with an annual minimum of butter.

Gray Butter Market

Another version is that the real volume of the butter market is larger and it falls on the gray market. But it should be noted that the apparent cover-up in imports was noted until 2014. For example, in 2007, imports amounted to only 4,381 tons with the local production of 14,350 tons. In 2008, imports amounted to 2,654 tons in the production of 13,838 tons.

The sharp jump in the volume of imports was first recorded in 2014 – 21,776 tons, while the local production was 23,445 tons.

The presence of the gray market is confirmed by data on the import from Russia. For example, according to the State Statistics Committee, in 2015 butter was not imported from Russia. The information is more than suspicious, because all the time Russian butter is present on the market shelves. It is interesting that after the measures taken for transparency in the work of the State Customs Committee of the Azerbaijan Republic in 2016, the list of countries exporting oil to Azerbaijan appeared to include Russia, Sri Lanka, Luxembourg, the United States, Malaysia, Argentina and Uruguay. Whereas the list of exporters of butter consisted of 15 countries in 2015, the number increased to 22 in 2016.

Butter Pricing

In general, Azerbaijan in 2016 imported 8,357.09 tons of butter, totaling 28 million 377.94 thousand US dollars.

In 2016, the major exporter of butter to Azerbaijan was New Zealand. This country exported 6,209.9 tons in the amount of 20 million 453.33 thousand dollars. In the second place on this list is Germany (534.2 tons), and Finland is the third (395.2 tons).

On average, up to the border of Azerbaijan a kilogram of New Zealand butter costs 3.30 dollars. This price includes shipping costs and insurance. After customs clearance (15%) the price is 3.80 USD and 18% VAT on the price brings it to an average of 4.48 dollars. Wholesalers add an average of 20% to 30%. If you take the wholesaler’s supplement as 25%, the price of New Zealand butter for the market is an average of $ 5.6.

Note that customs duty is not applied to butter from the CIS.

The layout of imports of butter in 2016:

Butter Quality

The above-mentioned issues should be also added the quality problem. The head of the Union for Protection of Consumer Rights Eyyub Huseynov said that complaints of the quality of butter have always come.

“The butter market in Azerbaijan is too ‘dirty’. In the market you can find butter, which has nothing to do with real butter,” he said.

Huseynov does not rule out that some local manufacturers import butter from abroad, mix it with various additives and then sell it under their own brands.

“I do not rule out that such things are done with butter from Russia, Ukraine and Belarus,” he said.

Huseynov said he repeatedly raised these issues with the relevant state agencies, but they in turn do not conduct proper examination and do not evaluate the matter.

He suggested a few simple ways to check the quality of butter. According to him, it is necessary to squeeze a piece of butter in the hand. If the butter is rigid, it is creamy. In addition, he noted that a knife cuts butter in layers, not entirely.

According to the expert, the color of butter is not white and not yellow, but rather ivory. In addition, the expert advises to check the butter by melting. Butter should quickly melt.

The expert stressed that the New Zealand butter cannot be falsified, since this country pursues a strict monitoring of the quality of its butter in the countries where it exports the product.

“In general, New Zealand exports butter totaling 12 billion dollars annually. I visited the factory where the butter is produced for export to Azerbaijan, and made sure you can trust the quality of the butter,” he said.

Use of Butter

Experts believe butter is indispensable for every human food - of course, if you use it in normal amounts. The minimum daily rate for a healthy person is 10 grams, but can be used up to 30. Butter contains fatty acids, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins A, D, E, PP and B, iron, calcium, potassium, magnesium, phosphorus, sodium, copper, manganese and zinc.

Vitamin A in butter is as much as in no vegetable oil. Of course, butter can be a cause of increased cholesterol in the blood, if consumed 3 times a day in considerable portions, adding it to dishes, cakes, creams and sandwiches. -71A-