The Informant

QUESTION: I heard protein prices are going up again soon. Why is this happening, and how much more will I have to pay for my protein powder?

ANSWER: Whey protein concentrate standardized for 80% protein content is going up with no true end in sight. This is primarily due to the current weakened state of the US dollar and increased mainstream consumer demand. That being said, Canadian companies which have their own state-of-the-art powder manufacturing facilities include: KAIZEN, PVL/FIT FOODS, MVP, BIOx and Interactive. US companies with their own manufacturing factory include: Cytosport (makers of MUSCLE MLK), Optimum Nutrition, Dymatize, Beverly Nutrition, Universal, and Ultimate Nutrition. These companies will be able to offer a better value than some of the other companies. Unfortunately, other companies which don’t have their own manufacturing facilities are using co-packers to buy their ingredients for them. These co-packers mark up the price, which is then passed along by the supplement companies to you, the consumer. The good thing is that a lot of supplement stores won’t let individual companies pass along price increases until they have a consensus from other vendors to do so.