Nicolas Chatel takes away the a piece of butter as Pierre Chatel stands behind him at the market in Marly le Roi, west of Paris, France. Credit:Michel Euler/AP And if you think that doesn't amount to a national crisis, then I've got one word for you: croissants. French pastry requires a lot of butter to make. The French are worried. According to Le Figaro newspaper, it's the worst butter shortage since the end of World War Two. "It's the Chinese, they're buying all the butter," the Carrefour checkout guy told Morton (Chinese demand is part of the cause, but not the whole story). Alison Meston, an Australian who has lived in France for some years, says the lack of butter is a "talking point" among her colleagues.

French baker Stephane Louvard stands by slices of butter in a bakery in Paris. Credit:AP "There's lots of butter missing from the shelves in my supermarket," she said. "I could only buy the expensive salt crystal butter – which is fine by me because it's delicious." It might not be a problem for hipster Parisians but it would be harder for "a family of 6 on the breadline if you're now paying 1.15 euros for your croissants when you were paying 90 cents", Meston said. The shortage of butter can be seen on a shelf at a supermarket in Versailles, west of Paris, France. Credit:AP Morton also checked out "La Butte Fromagère" near Montmartre, a traditional cheese and dairy shop. It was well stocked.

Shop assistant Alexia told her the shortages were only in "industrially made butter – we sell artisan made butter and there's no shortage there". A woman cuts a slice of butter on a market in Bayonne, south-western France. Credit:AP Alexia told Morton the shortage was due to strong demand: "it's the Chinese, they're buying a lot… but don't worry Madame, you know when people say there's a shortage of something, everyone panics and goes and buys it all up." According to European Commission statistics, the price of wholesale butter shot up from a low of €250 per 100kg in January 2016 to €650 in August this year. Illustration: Matt Golding

Butter prices for consumers doubled. Part of the cause is because demand is high. Croissants - a national staple. Across the West butter is seeing a revival as new research casts doubt on the health risks of saturated fats. And buttery pastries are increasingly in vogue in Asia and the Middle East. China butter imports from the EU rose by 19 per cent this year compared to 2016, though the EU's total butter exports in 2017 actually fell by a fifth.

Butter's price jump is evident. Credit:DG AGRI It wasn't just butter. Chinese demand for EU cheese rose by 23 per cent, demand for skimmed milk powder by 29 per cent, and whole milk powder by 11 per cent. But turbulence in Europe's butter market can really be traced back to the abolishing of milk quotas in 2015. Rising Chinese demand for French dairy products. Credit:GTA Brigit Busicchia of Macquarie University wrote for The Conversation that the liberalisation of the EU dairy market drove farm-gate prices down, so farmers across Europe scaled back production.

The recently strong euro also didn't help matters. There was a 5 per cent slump in EU butter production this year compared to the year before, according to the latest official figures. The latest forecasts suggest that a surge in production in the second half of 2017 is on its way to fixing the problem. Bakers are worried. The Christmas cake season is imminent, and they all need butter. If supply doesn't return quickly enough, they're going to have to pass the cost on to customers. Loading