Kolkata is facing an emerging butter shortage ahead of the Durga Puja and festive baking season, with retailers reporting erratic supplies of Amul and Britannia products and online platforms showing several pack sizes as unavailable. The disruption is affecting households as well as bakeries and confectioners that depend on regular supplies of 500g and bulk packs.
The shortage has been reported across grocery shops in the city, although availability varies by outlet, brand and pack size. Several retailers have received only a fraction of their usual requirements, while others have gone days without replenishment. Amul, which retailers identify as having more than 95% of Kolkata’s packaged butter market, has been particularly visible in reports of patchy availability, though Britannia supplies have also been affected.
The supply problem has extended beyond neighbourhood stores. Kolkata wholesale platforms recently listed 500g unsalted butter as out of stock, indicating pressure on supplies used by restaurants, bakeries and confectioners. Quick-commerce platforms have also shown inconsistent availability, with some variants and pack sizes unavailable while others remained listed in stock.
“For the past two days, I had been desperately searching for butter. I checked several neighbourhood shops and even tried online, but it was unavailable everywhere. I finally managed to get a pack from a department store quite far from my home,” Kolkata resident Sunita Agarwal told The Times of India.
Retailers said replenishment has become irregular just as customers are beginning to prepare for the festive season. “Supplies have become extremely irregular. Earlier, fresh stocks would arrive routinely, but for the past few days replenishment has been very poor,” said Srikanta Khatua, a retailer at Behala Old Market. He said customers were mainly seeking 100g and 500g packs, but shops often had none to offer.
The precise reason for the shortage in Bengal has not been officially stated by Amul. However, a similar disruption was reported in Pune in July, where an Amul distributor attributed supply problems to inadequate availability of milk with the required fat content and described the situation as seasonal. Butter production requires substantially more milk fat than products such as toned milk, making availability sensitive to changes in the supply of suitable milk.
For Kolkata’s baking businesses, the timing is significant because production of cakes, biscuits, pastries and other confectionery traditionally increases ahead of the festive season. Arif Mohammed, who operates a bakery in Taltala, said his business normally required about 10kg of butter a week but was currently receiving barely 1kg. The bakery has had to try different brands and, in some cases, pay more to maintain production. He said a prolonged shortage could eventually raise production costs.
Retailers and institutional users are hoping the disruption remains temporary. With household, restaurant and bakery demand expected to rise during the Durga Puja period, the immediate next milestone will be whether regular replenishment of household and bulk butter packs resumes across Kolkata outlets.
