Whey Protein Prices – Why Are They So High Now?

For those of you that have purchased whey protein products recently, I’m sure you noticed the price was very expensive. As an example, Optimum Nutrition’s 100% Whey Protein (Gold Standard) went from $25 six months ago to its current price of $38. Dymatize’s Elite Whey went from $25 to $43. Now, these aren’t your minor price increases. These are huge, with anywhere from 50-75% increases depending on the product.

So what’s causing all this? The supplement industry is facing big increases to the price of milk protein, which includes whey protein, milk protein isolates and concentrates, and anything else derived from cow’s milk. This is the result of unprecedented high demand for milk products in China as well as other developing countries. For all you economics majors we all know what happens when demand outstrips supply. The price must go up to compensate. Just like the price of oil (gasoline, fuel) is controlled by supply and demand, so too are milk (whey protein) products.

But prices couldn’t have increased by that much, could it? Unfortunately, yes. If you bought a gallon of milk recently, you might have paid $4.50 or more for it. Starbucks recently raised the price on a cup of coffee by 9 cents. You may think 9 cents is nothing compared to $15 or $20, but Starbucks sells millions of cups of coffee every day. This translates into billions of dollars in additional revenue. A supplement company may only sell hundreds or even thousands of units per day. As a result, their prices must increase more. If they don’t, they lose money instead of profit. There is no incentive for a company to produce a product that loses money. When supplement companies raise their wholesale prices (the price we pay), retailers like ourselves must do the same.

I don’t care if prices are higher or not, I’m still not paying that much for my protein powder. Well, it looks like you’re gonna have to. From what it looks like, prices are going to continue to increase for the foreseeable future. You’re only alternative would be to find other sources of protein such as egg or casein. You can also look for whey proteins that haven’t yet gone up in price yet like DNA Mighty Whey Protein which currently sells for $24.99 for 6.3lbs and 80 servings.

Until next time.

Tony
Advantage Supplements.com
www.advantagesupplements.com