The Great British Bake Off triggers butter shortage causing price to surge by 30p

A SEVERE butter shortage has led to the cost of a pack rising by around 30p in a year.

Rising demand for butter - driven by popular high fat diets and shows like TV’s Great British Bake Off - and problems with the milk supply chain pushed up wholesale prices.

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Shops have had to start passing costs onto consumers after wholesale prices more than doubled.

It means a packet of butter or spread now costs nearly 15 per cent more than it did a year ago.

Stores tried to avoid passing on costs but caved over Christmas as the crisis worsened.

In January last year, the average cost of a pack of butter or butter-based spread in UK supermarkets was £2.04, according to mySupermarket.com.

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Now the average pack costs £2.32.

Prices gradually crept up throughout 2017 but jumped in October as demand grew ahead of Christmas.

They reached a peak of £2.36 in November - a rise of 16 per cent on the previous year.

The butter crisis across Europe is thought to have been triggered by farmers “putting the brakes on” milk and cream production last year after prices crashed because too much was being produced.

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Since then, poor quality grass has affected the diets of cows meaning they produce less milk.

These factors, coupled with butter becoming popular again with shoppers, means there is simply not enough butter to go round.

The rise in wholesale prices has already had a knock-on effect on butter-rich food, with biscuit, shortbread and fudge makers warning they had no choice by to put up prices.