Cheese economics: Doux de Montagne

Perhaps the answer to this question is as obvious as it seems yet...

Back in the day (15 years ago-ish), Doux was an everyday decent cheese, price-wise. Well under $10-/lb., like a cousin of Bel Paese. I'm not a huge eater of those semi-soft bland cheeses, but my parents love them, so I was visiting them and shopping and went to grab a wedge and noticed that it was pushing $20/lb.

Now, I know that the price of everything is up over time, the dollar is down, and climate change is affecting things (less water, higher costs to raise milk animals, energy, etc.). Yet where a lot of goat cheeses have come down, or held relatively steady, where genuine Parm. has gone up maybe 20-25% in the same period, this virtual tripling of the price of a relatively unexceptional, common cow's milk cheese seems bizarre to me.
I've checked around, and this wasn't an anomaly. $18/lb. seems to be the going rate for Doux.
Anyone have a clue what's up with that?

Hi,

Just for chuckles, I looked up a Consumer Price Index calculator to learn $10 in 1994 is worth $14.39 in 2009.

If there is relatively fixed quantity of this product and a higher level of demand, then that may account for some of the additonal cost increases. If nobody desired it, it wouldn't exist or be dirt cheap.

Regards,

My guess is, the amount of the population who will pay $20/lb for cheese has exploded.

When I worked at the Hyde Park Chalet in 2000-2001, you could get lots of good cheese under $10/lb, very few cheese (and there were 100+) sold for over $15-16. We started carrying Humboldt Fog during that time, the artisanal American cheese industry was fledgling, I think it was $25/lb and by far the most expensive thing we sold.

Cheese is more expensive in Kansas City, but I routinely see cheeses $20+ of varying qualities, and just a couple weekends ago paid $34.72/lb (actually labeled at $2.17/oz) for some middling local sheep's milk cheese.

I don't think the local, small operations are gouging or anything, but the rising prices of these factory cheeses makes me think they are empowered to raise prices by the increased tolerance for high dollar cheese.