Food Peanut Butter Prices on the Rise

Magpie · Sep 26, 2011

I found this slightly interesting. I started reading it due to Martians love for peanut Butter. The man can't live without the stuff I swear.

First article from Food Network.

Buyers beware: That peanut butter you’ve been snacking on since childhood is soon to undergo a price hike. Sweltering temperatures and parched soil in Peanut Belt states like Georgia and Texas are to blame for the spoiled peanut crop.
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According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, this year’s peanut crop is predicted to be about 3.61 billion pounds, 13 percent smaller than last year.
Peanut butter powerhouse J.M. Smucker Co., who dominates 45 percent of the peanut butter market, expects to raise prices by 30 percent in November, making that $3.19 jar of Jif $4.15, says a Cleveland article.
Although this year’s peanut crop won’t be harvested for a month or two, farmers who have pulled up their plants came away disappointed after finding very few peanuts.
Also quoted in the article is Patrick Archer, president of the American Peanut Council in Alexandria, Va., who says that although a lot could change between now and harvest, price hikes at the supermarket are inevitable.
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Second article from Cleveland.com.

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- First gas, then coffee, and now peanut butter.
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Consumers fed up with the higher cost of filling up their cars and buying their morning java might now have to pay more for their PB&J.
Scorching hot, dry weather in the major peanut-growing states like Georgia and Texas has devastated this year's peanut crop.
Some plants shriveled before they could produce peanuts, while other plants got too hot to mature into anything edible. And some of the plants that did mature developed a toxin that makes them more difficult to process.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is predicting this year's peanut crop could be about 3.61 billion pounds, 13 percent smaller than last year's 4.16 billion pounds.
Bottom line: Consumers will see higher prices on peanuts and peanut butter at least through the winter.

"In my 20 years in the nut business, I've never seen peanut prices this high," said Marty Kanan, president and chief executive of King Nut Co. in Solon.
King Nut owns Peterson Nut in Cleveland and supplies peanuts to Southwest Airlines and Delta Airlines.
King Nut, which buys pre-shelled peanuts it then roasts and salts, has seen its prices from suppliers more than double.
On Sept. 1, the company raised its prices to retailers and food service companies by 50 to 70 cents per pound, depending on the product.
The J.M. Smucker Co., which makes the nation's No. 1-selling Jif peanut butter and dominates 45 percent of the peanut butter market, expects to raise prices by 30 percent in November.
"Our peanut costs will be significantly higher as we end calendar year 2011," Smucker President and Chief Operating Officer Vincent Byrd said during a Barclays Capital Consumer Conference on Wednesday.
A 30 percent increase on a $3.19 jar of Jif would make that 18-ounce jar cost $4.15.
At Olympia Candy in Strongsville, owner Bob McGrath said his peanut costs have risen 30 percent since the beginning of the year. He uses the peanuts in his peanut clusters and grinds them into peanut butter for his peanut butter-filled chocolates.

At Fannie May Confections Brands in North Canton, maker of Harry London's peanut butter-filled Buckeyes, "We are seeing peanut butter prices increasing in the 25-percent range" and expect it to go higher, said Bob Happel, vice president of sales and business development.
"Our peanut prices have doubled and supply is quite scarce."
Natalia Popowicz, manager of Sweet Designs Chocolatier in Lakewood, said she has seen a 50 percent increase in the cost of Spanish peanuts, which they use to make milk and dark chocolate peanut clusters.
None of the candy companies has passed along those increases to customers, although Happel said Fannie May could re-evaluate if prices continue to climb.
Patrick Archer, president of the American Peanut Council in Alexandria, Va., said that although a lot could change between now and harvest, price hikes at the supermarket are inevitable.
Shelly Nutt, executive director of the Texas Peanut Producers Board in Lubbock, Texas, said although the bulk of this year's crop won't be harvested for another month or so, the farmers who've already pulled up their peanut plants have found very few peanuts.
The worst drought in Texas history combined with more than 90 days of 100-plus-degree temperatures caused the plants to wither on the vine.
The pegs, the part of the plant that pokes back into the ground and produces the peanut seed, burned when they touched the hot soil, she said.
Farmers couldn't irrigate enough to reverse the damage, she said. "Peanuts need water, and we haven't had any."
That's on top of the fact that peanut farmers devoted fewer acres to growing peanuts this year, in part because cotton offered better prices for less work.
"We're looking at about 50 percent less yield" in a state that last year supplied nearly a fifth of the nation's peanuts, Nutt said. "We're truly going to see a shortage in peanuts."
In Georgia, which produces nearly half of the nation's peanuts, experts think the 1.6 billion pounds estimated for this year's crop is ambitious.
That's bad news because 70 percent of Georgia's peanuts go into peanut butter.
"It's been a terrible year," said Don Koehler, executive director of the Georgia Peanut Commission. "We've had excessive heat and not enough rainfall over most of the Peanut Belt.
"We had high hopes that Hurricane Irene would help, but she stayed over the ocean and actually sucked up all the moisture out of the air, leaving us with 100 degree temperatures and 20-mph winds. It went from bad to worse.
"An inch of rain would help, but it's not enough to change the situation in the market," he said. "We're just hoping we're going to be able to produce all the peanuts we need."
Koehler said supplies are plunging just as consumption has reached record highs, which he credits to Smucker and its "Choosy Moms Choose Jif" commercials.
Smucker is the world's largest buyer of peanuts for roasting, he said.
"If everybody goes out right now and buys it off the shelf, it's going to take that much longer to replace it and cost that much more," he said. "If we can make it through this year," next year's crop looks much more promising, he said.
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Daval · Sep 26, 2011

We go through so much of the stuff. Food prices is just getting out of hand

Remixer · Sep 26, 2011

Oh no! What will we do, now that Peanut Butter is more expensive?!

My world has fallen apart. Fuck you Capitalist/Mixed economies and your damned supply/demand market forces!

*Insert sarcasm disclaimer HERE*

fflowley · Sep 26, 2011

Daval said: ↑

We go through so much of the stuff. Food prices is just getting out of hand
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But how can this be?
The Bernank and his comrade, fellow traveller Paul Krugman tell us that there is no inflation and we better keep printing money galore if we know what's good for us.

Anybody tried recently buying black oil sunflowers to feed the birds? Outta control.
Used to be 50 pounds for 16 to $20 or so. $32 a bag at last check.......

Baraka_Guru · Sep 26, 2011

Yay global warming!

But even with price increases by as much as 30%, peanut butter still represents a relatively cheap source of protein and other important nutrients. One of the cheapest, I'll wager.

Daval · Sep 28, 2011

and yummiest

martian · Sep 28, 2011

What's not to love about pb? It's cheap, tasty, adheres to food and has a good shelf life. It's everything one might desire in one's foodstuff.

They better not mess with my peanut butter supply. Martian doesn't want to have to slap a bitch.

grumpyolddude · Sep 28, 2011

I read this and spewed peanut butter and crackers all over the screen! Nothing like this could have happened when Jimmy Carter was president!

DAKA · Oct 15, 2011

Hmmm, I love Almond butter, but, that stuff is $10 a jar, so now PB will cost the same...looks like another foodstuff is on the "no buy list".
Anyone noticed how much bread has risen (sic),
What's next....(there are TOO MANY PEOPLE on this planet)...

Baraka_Guru · Oct 15, 2011

DAKA said: ↑

What's next....(there are TOO MANY PEOPLE on this planet)...
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Not yet. There are just too many meat eaters at the moment.

Plan9 · Oct 15, 2011

Baraka_Guru said: ↑

Not yet. There are just too many meat eaters at the moment.
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Our diet is only a slice of the problem with overpopulation.

Human Reproduction: Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Check out The World Without Us.

Fremen · Oct 15, 2011

We couldn't find any Peter Pan peanut butter the other day, so we bought Skippy.
Turns out it tastes pretty damn good.

Baraka_Guru · Oct 15, 2011

Plan9 said: ↑

Our diet is only a slice of the problem with overpopulation.

Human Reproduction: Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

Check out The World Without Us.
Click to expand...

It's a nice thick slice, I'm sure. I can't think of a single bigger impact on world resources than the food system. I can't think of a single bigger impact on the food system than meat, egg, and dairy production.

The biggest issue of overpopulation is food and water, isn't it?

Plan9 · Oct 15, 2011

Again, I tend to see human overpopulation as much, much more than just a we-eat-too-much-of-the-wrong-things problem.

That and the whole philosophy of "This is the max number of people we can sustain" tends to leave other species out.

I apologize for the threadjack.

grumpyolddude · Oct 15, 2011

Plan9 said: ↑

Again, I tend to see human overpopulation as much, much more than just a we-eat-too-much-of-the-wrong-things problem.

That and the whole philosophy of "This is the max number of people we can sustain" tends to leave other species out.

I apologize for the threadjack.
Click to expand...

Hey, threads go where they may, don't they. Besides, it's been over 2 weeks since the OP was addressed.

Most issues are multi-faceted. Peanut butter prices are more of a climate problem than an overpopulation problem, IMO. But then, the population impacts natural resources, like, available fresh water, which impacts crop yields, which impacts prices, which impacts....

grumpyolddude · Oct 16, 2011

Speed_Gibson · Oct 16, 2011

Fremen said: ↑

We couldn't find any Peter Pan peanut butter the other day, so we bought Skippy.
Turns out it tastes pretty damn good.
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Peter Pan had a hard time growing enough peanuts out there in Neverland to fill the demand. That and the lost boys demanded a raise to keep working in his factory making sure those jars hit the shelf.

cynthetiq · Oct 16, 2011

I really didn't like Jif. I can't really say why, I want to believe that I found it too sweet. I like Skippy extra chunky myself. I don't buy it enough to notice the price change. A jar lasts me many many months.

fflowley · Oct 16, 2011

Skippy is some mighty fine peanut butter.
My favorite though is the Smuckers natural that you have to mix the oil back into.
Chunky style please.

Fremen · Oct 16, 2011

Speed_Gibson said: ↑

Peter Pan had a hard time growing enough peanuts out there in Neverland to fill the demand. That and the lost boys demanded a raise to keep working in his factory making sure those jars hit the shelf.
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*like*

fflowley said: ↑

Skippy is some mighty fine peanut butter.
My favorite though is the Smuckers natural that you have to mix the oil back into.
Chunky style please.
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We tried some of that natural peanut butter by Peter Pan the last time we could find Peter Pan. Unbeknownst to me, too.
I thought we had bad peanut butter. It was all separated and runny, like it had been melted. I didn't realize you had to stir the stuff up first.
It tasted the same, though.

cynthetiq, Jif is too sweet for me. Was that the problem?

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