Summary: Vesper has launched Technical Analysis, a new forward-looking capability that translates complex market behavior into clear, actionable timing signals. Previously reserved for trading experts using specialized tools, technical analysis is now accessible to every procurement professional through simple, visual indicators. This feature helps teams identify optimal buying windows by analyzing price patterns and momentum, delivering straightforward signals that answer the critical question: "When should I act?"—no financial expertise required.

What's New:

• Three procurement-focused indicators that signal market timing without financial jargon

• Moving Averages show if prices are trending above or below "normal" levels

• MACD detects when price movements are accelerating or losing steam

• RSI identifies when markets are overheated or oversold, highlighting potential reversals

• Clean visual signals (green/red arrows + Interpreted text) that make complex analysis instantly understandable

Why It Matters: Fundamental data tells you why prices should move, but not when the market will react. Technical Analysis bridges this gap by revealing when markets start believing the fundamental story. In volatile markets where timing can mean the difference between saving and losing on purchases in volatile markets. These indicators help procurement teams spot early trend changes, identify optimal entry points, and avoid buying at market extremes, without requiring trading expertise.

How to Use It:

1. Add Technical Analysis to any dashboard by using the search function

2. View the summary panel showing all three indicators at a glance

3. Green arrows indicate upward pressure/momentum, red indicates downward

4. Click the extended view for in depth analysis of the indicators

5. Combine with Vesper's other forward-looking tools for complete forward looking intelligence

Related Features: Technical Analysis completes Vesper's forward-looking toolkit:

• AI Forecasting predicts where prices are headed (the "how much")

• Dashboard fundamentals explain market drivers (the "why")

• Market reports provide expert context

• Now Technical Analysis reveals entry point (the "when")

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 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.

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.

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.

Summary: Added grain prices and 6-month forecasts for North America and Europe, with daily and weekly updates.

What's New:

• Regional coverage:

  • North America: CA, US

  • Europe: AR, DE, IT, NL, PL, SE, TR

• Products covered:

  • Barley

  • Corn

  • Durum Wheat

  • Flax

  • Millet

  • Oats

  • Rye

  • Wheat

Why It Matters: More frequent price updates and forward-looking data help you track market movements and time purchases better.

How to Use It:

1. Open Dashboard

2. Find the data available both in the price, price comparison, and price forecast widgets

3. Filter by region and product