While the skyrocketing price of butter may be leaving a bitter taste in the mouths of some, one non-profit saw a golden opportunity.
Southland Paws Rescue founder Amy Greig said the organisation made $1 profit on each of the 5560 blocks of butter it sold in its latest fundraiser.
Ms Greig said it was the first time it had sold butter and it had been the most successful fundraiser to date.
The orders for the 250g Westland Gold blocks started rolling in thick and fast after a post about it was placed on their social media page.
"Word of mouth got around and people started ordering."
Jingo and cheese rolls had been used to raise revenue in the past, but the butter was less work and easier to sell.
One buyer ordered $1000 of butter while ironically, 500 blocks were ordered by staff from a local dairy processing factory.
Ms Greig said several orders had been received from people who made cakes for others.
Prices were initially marginally lower than supermarkets, but even from the time they first started receiving orders at the start of May, Westgold community fundraising prices had risen from $4 to $5.15.
"I’d rather put that dollar that we got back into a local organisation for what we do . . . than letting that supermarket profit that dollar."
Orders had to be prepaid and picked up once the delivery had been made because of the logistical challenge of storing pallet loads of butter.
Funds raised paid for the care of the multitudes of animals the charity looked after throughout the year.
While they had a good relationship with their vet, their bill still needed to be paid.
Some animal healthcare expenses ran more than $1000.
Leithfield School in Canterbury sold 10,000 blocks of the golden dairy bars in a recent fundraiser, RNZ said.
Invercargill’s Kaye’s Bakery had been importing Australian butter by 10-tonne shipments to make its biscuits.
Kaye’s Bakery owner Luella Penniall said three years ago the company was paying $11 per kg — now it was up to $15.
Stats New Zealand data shows prices have increased more than 65% in the 12 months ending at April 2025.
Stats NZ also said dairy prices were the main driver for food price increases
— increasing the food price index by 3.7%.
The average cost for 500g of butter was $7.42, 12 months ago.
Butter hit a record high of $7992 a tonne early in May before falling to $7821 in mid-May.
By Toni McDonald
