The price of whey protein concentrate (WPC-80), a highly refined dairy nutritional powder at 80% protein, has soared in recent months on the back of insatiable demand for protein.
Over the last six months WPC-80 has soared in price and now sits at €25,000/t. Twelve months ago, WPC-80 was trading at around €16,000/t.
Such is the demand for high value protein from food manufacturers and sports nutrition companies that there is not enough WPC-80 and its sister product whey protein isolate (WPI-90) to service the soaring global demand.
Medication
The increase in demand is largely as a result of increased use of GLP-1 type medications for weight loss, such as Ozempic or Wegovy. These products reduce the appetite of patients leading to lower food consumption and subsequent weight loss.
To maintain protein intake and prevent muscle wasting, many patients consume protein supplements to increase their protein intake. Unlike whey, cheese prices have fallen by about €1,000/t or 22% over the last 12 months, with many in the industry now viewing cheese as a by-product of whey.
Most Irish co-ops are well positioned to capitalise on the higher prices of whey, with the exception of Lakeland Dairies, Arratipp and Aurivo who don’t make any cheese and so don’t make any whey.
Both Dairygold and Kinisla are big players in the demineralised whey market, which has not seen the same high prices as WPC-80 or WPI-90 but is still seeing massive uplifts in price with Demin-90 now making over €4,000/t, up from around €1,250/t over 18 months ago.
Last year, Tirlán announced a €126m investment in Ballyragget to manufacture WPI-90 which is set to be operational from the middle of next. year.
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