Poland's Strategic Reserves Agency (RARS) announced a tender for the sale of 1,000 metric tonnes of butter to stabilise prices ahead of the holiday season.
Butter prices have rocketed in recent months, trading at record highs across Europe in bad news for cooks and bakers ahead of the celebrations.
Strong demand for butter, tight stocks and dairy processors' preference to use milk for the most profitable products such as cheese have driven the price surge, analysts say.
While inflation in Poland stood at 5.0% year on year in October, butter prices were up 22%.
Price Stabilisation
The government decided to intervene on the market to stabilise prices, the Strategic Reserves Agency said in a statement.
'The tender... concerns the sale of frozen butter in blocks of 25 kg. In total, the Agency wants to sell about 1,000 tons of this product. The minimum selling price of butter is 28.38 zlotys/kg ($6.98)(excluding VAT),' it said.
'The butter sold by RARS comes from the Agency's food reserves... The intervention of RARS should contribute to the stabilisation of butter prices on the market.'
Consumer Sentiment
Polish shoppers were 'moderately' optimistic in the third quarter with spending on FMCG increasing 4.3% year on year, according to NIQ.
It was driven by an increase in average product prices and growth in volume consumption, indicating improved financial condition of consumers. However, this volume growth is slower compared to the first half of this year.
NIQ added that the improvement in consumer sentiment was influenced by inflation, which was between 3 and 4.5% in the third quarter, or more than twice as low as a year ago, according to data from the Central Statistical Office.
