Invite: Expert Access: Whey protein at record highs: bubble, bottleneck or new normal?

Research evidence excerpt

Invite: Expert Access: Whey protein at record highs: bubble, bottleneck or new normal?

Event Description

Whey protein has become one of the most discussed commodity markets in food and

nutrition. Prices have reached record levels as demand accelerates across sports nutrition,

high-protein dairy, functional beverages and broader consumer wellness categories. At the

same time, investors are debating whether current market conditions reflect a temporary

squeeze, a structural supply deficit, or the emergence of a new pricing paradigm.

To explore these questions, Barclays is hosting an expert call with Alexander Sterk,

Founder of Vesper, a leading provider of market intelligence, pricing benchmarks and

analytics for the global dairy commodities industry. Prior to founding Vesper in 2019,

Alexander spent more than seven years as a dairy commodity trader at Interfood Global,

one of the world's largest dairy ingredient trading companies.

The discussion will examine the key drivers behind the surge in whey protein prices,

including the rise of high-protein consumption, expanding sports nutrition demand,

GLP-1-related dietary trends, cheese production dynamics and the outlook for global milk

supply. We will also explore whether the industry can respond through new whey

processing investments, dairy herd dynamics, product reformulation or substitution into

alternative proteins.

We will assess the implications for publicly listed companies across the food, beverage and

ingredients value chain. Topics are expected to include:

•• Is today's whey market cyclical or structural?

•• What is the outlook for whey protein concentrates, isolates and related dairy proteins

over the next 12–24 months?

•• How quickly can supply respond to elevated prices?