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 strengthened its dairy portfolio with a new weekly Vesper Price Index (VPI) benchmark for Cheddar Curd (CIF Southeast Asia). This proprietary benchmark fills a critical gap in regional cheese trade visibility, especially for Oceania-origin products moving into key Asian markets.

What's New:

• Exclusive weekly VPI price benchmark for Cheddar Curd with CIF Southeast Asia delivery basis

• First reliable price reference in a region lacking formal cheese futures markets

• Full integration with existing dairy dashboards and pricing tools

Why It Matters: With no futures market for cheese in the APAC, market participants have struggled to benchmark pricing or implement effective hedging strategies. This exclusive VPI benchmark provides essential price transparency in a market where Oceania exports a significant share of its cheddar production to Asian buyers. By introducing this reference point, we're responding to the need for reliable pricing data in markets lacking formal pricing infrastructure.

How to Use It:

1. Find the new Cheddar Curd (CIF SEA) benchmark in the pricing widgets

2. Add it to price widgets to analyze spread between origin and destination markets

3. Track weekly updates to identify emerging trends in regional dairy trade flows

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

• Global and regional cheese price benchmarks

• Import/export widgets mapping supply and demand in trade flows

• Price spread tool for cross-regional 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.

Launching supplementary bi-weekly cocoa highlights from Vesper's in-house analytical team, complementing the regular market commentary from independent expert Martijn Bron. These additional reports focus on technical analysis, derivative pricing, and weather insights to support decision-making during unprecedented market volatility.

Why it Matters: With cocoa prices at historic highs, procurement teams need comprehensive market coverage. Our in-house analytical team now provides targeted analysis on alternate weeks to Martijn Bron's expert commentary, combining deep technical analysis with veteran market insights during this volatile period.

What's New:

• Bi-weekly analysis from Vesper's analytical team focusing on:

  • Technical market indicators

  • Derivative pricing trends

  • Weather impact assessment

  • Supply chain disruptions

• Cocoa coverage schedule:

  • Martijn Bron's expert market commentary

  • Alternating with Vesper's analytical team reports

  • CRA Cocoa weather reports published frequently

How to Use It:

1. Access Cocoa Highlights in the Market Analysis section on Vesper or the mobile app

2. Set up notifications to be alerted of any new releases

Added daily Brazilian public prices from Instituto de Economia Agrícola (IEA), Brazil's leading agricultural economics institute, expanding our coverage of key food commodities with local market data.

Why it Matters: Brazil is a major global producer and price setter for multiple food commodities. Direct access to daily IEA data provides unprecedented visibility into local market dynamics, helping procurement teams better understand price movements at origin and optimize sourcing strategies.

What's New:

• Daily price updates across multiple categories:

  • Meat & Poultry: Chicken cuts (breast fillet, thigh, leg quarters), Pork cuts (loin, steak), Beef cuts (ribeye, round eye, brisket)

  • Nuts & Seeds: Peanuts in shell

  • Vegetables: Garlic (violet, violet size 0.7)

• Key features:

  • Daily frequency updates

  • 4 years of historical data

  • Local market prices from São Paulo state

  • Original source data direct from IEA

How to Use It:

1. Access Brazilian benchmarks in the Prices widgets by searching for the product name or filtering by BR-IEA source

Expanded sugar price coverage with new country-specific Vesper Price Indices for Germany, Netherlands, Poland, and Spain, complementing our regional EU benchmarks. All benchmarks are updated weekly and remain DAP (Delivered at Place) derived from actual market participants aiding price discovery.

Why it Matters: National sugar markets have distinct dynamics driven by local production, trade flows, and supply-demand factors. While regional benchmarks provide essential context, country-level visibility enables more precise procurement strategies, especially in deficit markets like Spain that rely heavily on imports.

What's New:

• Weekly white sugar benchmarks (ICUMSA 45) for:

  • Germany

  • Netherlands

  • Poland

  • Spain

• Delivery basis: DAP (Delivered at Place)

• Weekly updates every Wednesday

How to Use It:

1. Access Sugar benchmarks in the Prices widgets by searching for ‘white sugar‘

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.