Protein boom drives ‘gravity-defying’ rally in whey prices

{"text":[[{"start":7.85,"text":"Runaway demand for protein in shakes, powders and packaged food has led to a “gravity-defying” rally in whey prices, turning the ingredient from a cheese industry byproduct into a valuable commodity. "}],[{"start":20.15,"text":"Prices for whey protein isolate have soared fivefold to €28,000 a tonne since 2023, outstripping cheese and butter prices by more than four times as producers struggle to keep pace with a booming protein market."}],[{"start":34.3,"text":"“There’s a whole new category of consumers looking for protein fortification to make sure they maintain their muscle mass while taking [weight-loss drugs],” said Guus Aerts, director at Dutch dairy giant FrieslandCampina’s ingredients arm."}],[{"start":48.4,"text":"Thirty years ago whey was primarily used in animal feed or spread on farmland as a fertiliser. Whey is the liquid separated from curds during the cheesemaking process."}],[{"start":58.05,"text":"Now, dairy groups upgrade the liquid by filtration to produce whey protein isolate, a valuable ingredient for use in sports supplements as well as groceries such as yoghurt, bread and fizzy drinks, as weight-loss drugs and the protein megatrend propel demand."}],[{"start":74.9,"text":"“This is reshaping the economics of dairy,” said Jose Saiz, analyst at Expana, a commodity market information service. “It used to be a product with no value . . . now cheese could become the byproduct of whey production.”"}],[{"start":null,"text":"

"}],[{"start":89.9,"text":"European dairy majors such as Arla and FrieslandCampina — co-operatives owned by thousands of farmers across the region — have invested heavily in whey upgrading but are struggling to keep pace with demand from food and supplement manufacturers. "}],[{"start":104.45,"text":"Saiz said producers were sold out of isolates until June or July, limiting availability on the spot market and causing prices to surge. "}],[{"start":113,"text":"The US used to be a significant exporter of whey isolates but, because of booming demand from users of weight-loss drugs, domestic production was almost entirely absorbed locally, causing more tightness in the global market, Saiz said. "}],[{"start":null,"text":""}],[{"start":126.2,"text":"“Supply is exceeding what we can produce,” said Luis Cubel, head of Danish dairy group Arla’s ingredients business, adding that food companies and supermarkets were launching new products globally at a rate of about 100 a year. "}],[{"start":139.85,"text":"“That’s simply not a demand you can meet,” he said, adding that it can take two years to get new capacity ready."}],[{"start":146.9,"text":"Cubel cautioned that month after month of record prices could become an issue for whey producers. “With extreme price points you have to ask if it’s sustainable and whether you will see manufacturers use alternatives,” he warned, nodding to cheaper plant proteins, which are less popular but are gaining ground."}],[{"start":165.70000000000002,"text":"A lot of whey still ends up in animal feed, so there is a pool of the product that could be upgraded to isolates, said John Lancaster, analyst at StoneX, who said the past year’s prices were best described as “gravity defying”. "}],[{"start":180.45000000000002,"text":"However, only a limited group of producers in European and North American markets had capacity to turn low-value whey into a high-protein ingredient, Lancaster said."}],[{"start":190.8,"text":"In the meantime, the whey boom has cast the cheese market into uncertainty. "}],[{"start":195.15,"text":"“There’s been a joke going around for a long time that people were building cheese plants to get the protein rather than produce the cheese,” said Lancaster. "}],[{"start":203.85,"text":"At current prices, that idea “actually does make sense”, he added, but processors were reliant on healthy demand for cheese, without which most could not produce whey. "}],[{"start":214.45,"text":"While cheese demand in Europe is projected to grow over the next decade, there was a risk of a cheese oversupply if the whey rally was sustained, said Arla’s Cubel. "}],[{"start":231.64999999999998,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1779353734_9623.mp3"}