mid-year report 2026
Protein demand has outgrown sports nutrition, and whey has climbed to record levels.
Whey protein is no longer priced off the gym alone. Over the first half of 2026 the high-protein fractions, WPC80 and WPI, moved to levels the market has not seen before, and the pull came from far beyond sports nutrition. High-protein foods, medical and clinical nutrition, weight management and GLP-1 related use have built a consumer base that is larger, less seasonal and less sensitive to any single slowdown.
Supply has been slow to follow, held back by limited capacity to turn whey into concentrate. Egg albumen, carbohydrates and whole-food fats round out the picture of a sports nutrition basket under pressure.
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"WPC80 was no longer just a sports nutrition story. It had spread into high-protein yogurts, medical and weight management applications, GLP-1 driven demand and general food fortification, so a slowdown in any single channel no longer meant a slowdown across the board."
Jasper Endlich
Dairy Analyst, Vesper
Is this the peak, or the next step up?
The pressure sits in the high-protein whey fractions, where demand growth is structural rather than seasonal and new capacity will not arrive until later in 2026. Some buyers are already reformulating toward MPC and other proteins, others are watching the wide gap between US and European material and factoring it into where they source.
Egg albumen sits comfortable for now, while carbohydrates and whole-food fats carry their own supply stories into the second half.
This report sets out Vesper's price outlook across the full ingredient set, so your next buying decision rests on a forecast rather than a headline.
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