DUTCH BUTTER CONSUMPTION UP, MARGARINE LOWER
Dutch butter consumption rose at the
expense of margarine last year partly because of the European
Community's (EC) cheap butter schemes, the Commodity Board for
Margarine, Fats and Oils (MVO), said.
    Butter consumption rose to 4.1 kilos per head in 1986 from
four kilos in 1985, while margarine consumption including low
fat margarine, fell to 14 kilos per head from 14.3 kilos.
    The low fat margarine figure remained static at 2.6 kilos
per head, while ordinary margarine fell from 11.7 kilos per
head to 11.4 kilos.
    However, cheap butter schemes may not be the only
contributory factor in the changes. The MVO figures show a
fairly steady rise in total butter consumption and fall in
margarine consumption since 1973.
    A graph produced in the MVO annual report shows total Dutch
margarine consumption in 1973 at just under 210,000 tonnes
against around 165,000 in 1986.
    The same graph shows total butter consumption in 1973 at
just over 30,000 tonnes compared with just short of 60,000
tonnes last year.
    However, during the same period total Dutch edible fat and
oil consumption on a fat content basis has risen from around
345,000 tonnes to 360,000 tonnes, or an average of 24.8 kilos
per head in 1986.
    The graph shows that most of the increase has come from
butter and household cooking oil usage.
 Reuter
