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: 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.

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: Enhance your dairy market analysis with exclusive pricing insights for MPC85 (US) and MPI90 (US) - now benchmarked in the Vesper Price Index (VPI), establishing the first reliable market benchmarks for these protein ingredients.

What's New:

• VPI benchmark prices for MPC85 (US)

• VPI benchmark prices for MPI90 (US)

• First reliable market benchmark for these products

Why It Matters: Until now, no reliable price benchmarks existed for these protein ingredients. These new VPIs provide clear market reference prices, essential for both buyers and sellers in the specialized nutrition sector.

How to Use It:

1. Use the Prices or Price Comparison widget

2. Add prices using the prices filter

3. Select MPC85 or MPI90 (US)

Don’t have access to these prices yet?Let us know