Consumers have increased purchases of butter for five straight years, while margarine sales have dropped.
Butter futures reached an all-time high in Chicago as Americans' rising appetite for the fatty dairy spread and rising exports erode US inventories.
Domestic consumption is projected to rise 0.8 per cent to 788,000 metric tons in 2014, according to the US Department of Agriculture. That would be the second-highest ever in data going back to 1965. Shipments in the first six months of the year were up 42 per cent from 2013.
Demand is rising as milk production trailed analyst expectations, while fat content, used to make butter, is also dropping, according to Eric Meyer, the president of Chicago-based HighGround Dairy.
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