The whey market is in waiting mode. There is more pressure to sell than there was, off-spec product is already trading well below normal levels, and for most products there is no longer one price everyone agrees on. It depends on who is selling and which spec you are after.
Where everyone does agree is concentrates. WPC80 prices keep sliding in Europe and no buyer wants to be the one who stops it. Buyers who need product keep waiting, because so far every week of waiting has paid off, and the gap between offers and bids is wide enough that very little actually changes hands. European levels are now a long way below the highs set earlier this year, and the bottom is not in sight.
The rest of the complex is softer but not dramatic. The MPC85 market has stopped climbing, because cheaper whey protein removes part of the reason buyers reformulated into milk protein in the first place. WPI prices are easing only slightly, held up by tight specs and limited stock production, though the spread over WPC80 has widened enough that it will not escape the pressure for long.
Sweet whey supply is the exception. European food-grade supply is scarce in the higher specs, and US dry whey set another record as plants divert raw whey into proteins that pay better.
Read the full whey market analysis here.
