Summary: Vesper has launched Cost Models, a powerful new feature that transforms individual commodity benchmarks into complete product cost insights. This capability allows food manufacturers to combine weighted commodity benchmarks with standardized non-ingredient costs to build accurate product pricing models, delivering unprecedented visibility into true product economics.

What's New:

• Build complete product cost models by combining multiple commodity benchmarks with precise weightings

• Access industry-standard non-ingredient costs (labor, manufacturing, overhead) specific to your region

• Choose from our template library for common food products or create custom models

• Track how each component contributes to your total product cost with automatic updates whenever source prices change

Why It Matters: With record-high volatility across food commodities, understanding how ingredient changes impact finished products is critical for maintaining margins. Cost Models provide complete cost structure visibility for your entire organization: procurement teams can verify supplier price increases, finance can track margin impacts across product portfolios, and sales teams can justify price adjustments to customers with independently verified data. Non-ingredient costs can represent up to 47% of total product costs—a critical component that's now visible alongside your commodity benchmarks.

How to Use It:

1. Access Cost Models through the main dashboard menu

2. Choose between starting with a template or building a model from scratch

3. Select ingredients from your available commodities and assign precise weightings

4. Add country-specific non-ingredient costs by selecting your industry and location

5. Save your model to track cost evolution over time as prices update automatically

Related Features: Cost Models integrates seamlessly with Vesper's existing capabilities:

• Individual commodity price benchmarks (VPI, Partner prices, and Public benchmarks found in prices widgets)

• Incorporate into your own custom dashboards

• Coming in Q3 2025: Forecasting capabilities for your cost models

Summary: Vesper has expanded its oils & fats coverage with a new weekly Vesper Price Index (VPI) benchmark for Crude Shea Butter (FOB Tema) from Ghana. This proprietary benchmark, exclusive to Vesper, provides a reliable, independent price reference for an increasingly strategic commodity in food manufacturing.

What's New:

• Weekly VPI price benchmark for Crude Shea Butter

• FOB Tema delivery basis from Ghana—the world's largest shea butter exporting country

• Full integration with existing oils & fats dashboards and pricing tools

Why It Matters: As cocoa prices continue to surge, we've seen increased demand from our user base for alternatives like Shea Butter, which has emerged as a critical cost-effective substitute for cocoa butter. This exclusive VPI benchmark responds directly to user feedback, delivering essential price transparency for those seeking different compositions to limit the effects of cocoa volatility on end product applications. Having Vesper's independent benchmark helps verify supplier pricing and supports more confident negotiations during this period of volatility in cocoa markets.

How to Use It:

1. Find the new Shea Butter (Crude) benchmark in the pricing widgets section

2. Add it to the price comparison widget for side-by-side analysis with cocoa butter prices

3. Incorporate this benchmark into your custom cost models to evaluate how chocolate formulation costs change when substituting with shea butter

4. Monitor weekly updates to identify emerging trends and optimize buying decisions

Related Features: This benchmark complements Vesper's existing offerings:

• Cocoa butter price benchmarks

• Vegetable oil price benchmarks

• Cost modeling for ingredient substitution analysis

Summary: Vesper has expanded our biodiesel ticket coverage to include additional markets and vintages. This enhancement provides greater visibility into renewable energy certificate costs used for regulatory compliance across key European markets.

What's New:

• Daily biodiesel ticket prices now covering three European markets:

  • Netherlands

  • United Kingdom

  • Germany

• Coverage for both 2024 and 2025 vintages across all markets

• Multiple certificate types reflecting different feedstock categories

Why It Matters: These certificates represent a critical cost component for regulatory compliance in the transport sector. By tracking prices across different markets and vintages, users can better understand compliance costs, identify market trends, and develop more effective strategies in response to policy shifts and market dynamics.

How to Use It:

1. Find these prices in the prices widget in your dashboard

2. Search for specific certificates in the product dropdown

3. Use Vesper's analytical tools to compare prices across markets

Related Features: This expansion complements our existing biofuels coverage:

• Regular Biodiesel Market Report with expert analysis

• Comprehensive price coverage for biofuel products and feedstocks

• Energy price benchmarks

• Import/export/tradeflows for key biofuel products

Whats New? Vesper is extending our AI-powered forecasting horizon from 6 to 12 months for select dairy, sugar, and oils commodities with established price histories (5+ years of data). This extended visibility enables procurement teams to move beyond tactical buying decisions to support annual budgeting and strategic planning.

Why it matters? Together with expert human analyst outlooks and comprehensive coverage of S&D/Fundamentals, the forecast powered by AI technology gives a comprehensive outlook on future market movements. The extended 12-month horizon allows users to incorporate forecasting into their decision making on more strategic timeframes.

As always, forecasting accuracy is transparently available on the platform for each individual product, allowing users to assess performance and incorporate it into decision-making.

How to Use It:

1. Access the forecast widgets directly on your custom dashboards (add through the search tool if needed)

2. If a product has a 12-Month forecast horizon, it will automatically be visible on your screen

3. Check forecast performance by choosing the 12-Month option in the accuracy dropdown

More products will be added to the extended range in the course of Q2

Related Features: This extended forecasting complements our existing forward-looking toolkit:

• Forward pricing up to 16 months ahead in the Forward Pricing widgets

• Expert analyst outlooks for both short and long-term market perspectives

• Fundamental market drivers dashboard for tracking supply and demand trends

These combined tools give procurement teams unprecedented visibility into future market movements for more confident strategic planning.

Summary: Vesper has expanded our egg market coverage by integrating official quarterly UK egg production data. This enhancement provides critical supply information to complement our existing egg price benchmarks, delivering deeper market insights for procurement teams in a category known for significant volatility.

What's New:

• Quarterly UK egg production data from official government sources covering:

  • Eggs, Fresh

  • Egg Enriched Derivatives, Caged

  • Eggs, Free Range

• Reporting:

  • Production volumes across different egg types

  • Quarter-over-quarter production trends

  • Year-over-year production comparisons

Why It Matters: Egg markets have been extremely volatile, mainly due to supply side constraints caused by HPAI recently. With production levels directly impacting price movements. This new production data helps procurement teams anticipate market shifts by tracking supply dynamics, providing essential context for buying decisions and supplier negotiations in a challenging category.

How to Use It:

1. Navigate to the production widget in your dashboard

2. Select the relevant product in the dropdown

3. View production trends quarterly or evolutions compared to the prior years

Related Features: This update complements our comprehensive egg market coverage:

• Vesper Price Index (VPI) for 16 egg products across different production systems

• Expert market analysis for the egg sector

• Global news feed specific to eggs and poultry

• Price benchmarks across caged, barn, and free-range production systems

Summary: Introducing exclusive Vesper Price Indices (VPIs) for eggs and egg derivatives, covering 16 products across different production systems. These weekly benchmarks are built from actual transaction data from key market participants, supported by expert analysis and AI-powered news coverage.

What's New:

• Weekly VPI benchmarks for:

  • Powder Products: Egg White, Egg Yolk, and Whole Egg powders

  • Liquid Products: Egg White, Egg Yolk, and Whole Egg

  • Shell Eggs

• Coverage across three production systems:

  • Caged

  • Barn

  • Free Range

• Enhanced market coverage:

  • Expert market analysis reports

  • AI-curated global news feed specific to eggs and poultry

  • Weekly price updates based on actual transactions

Why It Matters: The egg derivatives market has historically lacked reliable price benchmarks despite significant price volatility. Our new VPIs fill this gap by providing weekly price references based on actual market transactions, helping you validate quotes and track price trends across different production systems.

How to Use It:

1. Access the price widgets

2. Select your product of interest from 16 new benchmarks

3. View price trends, expert analysis, and relevant news in one spot

4. Use the data to support procurement decisions and supplier negotiations

Related Features: This release is part of our expanded coverage for bakery ingredients, complementing recent additions in:

• Flour cost modeling

• Enhanced wheat and grains price benchmarks

• Fundamental coverage (production, trade routes) for grains, dairy, nuts, and more

These tools provide bakery procurement teams with comprehensive insights across their key ingredients.

Summary: New wheat flour price calculator now available, combining MATIF milling wheat prices with production costs to estimate realistic flour market values.

What's New:

• Wheat flour price calculation based on MATIF futures

• Customizable input parameters including:

  • Wheat purchase price (FOB French Ports)

  • Original protein content

  • Target protein content

  • Vital wheat gluten price

• Integration of key production cost factors:

  • Electricity consumption

  • Water usage

  • Milling efficiency rates

  • Labor costs

• Medium-sized miller operational model

• Located in Calculations Page under Grains & Feed

Why It Matters: Raw wheat prices tell only part of the story. This calculator helps you understand the full cost structure of flour production, enabling more informed negotiations and better prediction of price movements. Best of all, you can adjust the parameters to match your specific situation and market conditions.

How to Use It:

1. How to Use It:

   1. Navigate to the Calculations Page

   2. Select Grains & Feed category

   3. Choose "Wheat Flour Price - MATIF" calculator

   4. Adjust the input parameters to match your needs

   5. View the calculated theoretical EXW flour price

Part of our expanded grains coverage in Q4 2024, which includes:

• New import/export flow data for grains and flour

• Enhanced production data coverage

• Additional benchmark pricing for grains and flour products

Together, these tools give you a complete view of the market from trade flows to final product costs.

NewNuts & SeedsProduction Data

Summary: Monthly production data from IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics) for cashews and peanuts, providing official Brazilian production volumes and trends.

What's New:

• Monthly cashew production data (in shell)

• Monthly peanut production volumes (combined 1st and 2nd harvests)

• Data presented in metric tons

• Direct integration with IBGE statistics

• Monthly update frequency

Why It Matters: Brazil's position as a major nuts producer means their production volumes directly impact global supply and prices. This data helps you anticipate market movements and optimize procurement timing based on production cycles.

How to Use It:

1. Access the Production widgets in your dashboard

2. Use the search function to find "cashew" or "peanut" data

3. Select Brazilian production data from the results

Related Features: This release complements our recent expansion of nuts and seeds price data, where we've added more historical data points across all pricing widgets to give you a deeper view of long-term market trends.

Summary: Major expansion of global import/export data coverage across grains, nuts & seeds, and food ingredients - helping you track trade flows and assess supply & demand dynamics.

What's New:

• Grains & Flour

  • Complete trade data for wheat, corn, and specialty grains

  • Coverage of various flour types and grain derivatives

  • Bakery product trade flows

• Nuts, Seeds & Dried Fruits

  • Comprehensive data for tree nuts (both in-shell and shelled)

  • Coverage of dried fruits and specialty seeds

  • Full trade flow visibility for key origins

• Food Ingredients

  • Starches & Gluten

  • Natural & artificial thickeners

  • Egg products & derivatives

  • Essential oils & flavorings

  • Food additives & preservatives

  • Sauces & condiments

Why It Matters: Import/export data provides crucial market context beyond prices. These trade flows help you:

• Assess global supply & demand dynamics

• Track market movements across regions

• Identify emerging trends in your category

• Make more informed buying decisions

How to Use It:

1. Navigate to the Import/Export widgets

2. Select your category and product

3. View import/export flows through our interactive visualizations

4. Use one of 5 different widgets to make trade data actionable

Note: This is our largest trade data expansion beyond our existing coverage in Dairy, Oils & Fats, and Sugar, with more categories coming soon.