Whey Prices Rise and Pressure Infant Nutrition
The market bottleneck is the ability to turn liquid whey into high-protein ingredients, rather than access to whey itself, Booijink said. Producing whey protein concentrate with 80% protein, known as WPC80, and whey protein isolate, or WPI, requires ultrafiltration and microfiltration equipment, substantial capital and specialised technical expertise. Available processing capacity is limited.
That constraint has contributed to a sharper increase in WPC80 and WPI prices than in the price of unprocessed whey powder. Whey is used in several forms in infant nutrition, including demineralised whey, whey protein concentrate, whey protein isolate and hydrolysed whey protein.
Infant formulas are designed to have a protein balance closer to that of human milk. Cow’s milk contains roughly 80% casein and 20% whey, while infant formula commonly targets a ratio of about 40:60 between casein and whey. Seamus O’Mahony, head of the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences at University College Cork, said whey protein supplies essential amino acids including tryptophan, which is required for infant growth and development.
Demineralisation technology, introduced in the 1960s, made it possible to develop formulas dominated by whey protein. Without the process, the mineral content of whey would be too high for an infant’s metabolism. O’Mahony said demineralised whey has been used in infant nutrition for more than 60 years and provides protein, lactose and non-protein nitrogen.
Manufacturers cannot simply reduce the whey share of formulas in response to higher costs. Infant formula is the sole source of nutrition for babies fed on formula, O’Mahony said, and the category is tightly regulated. Controls cover not only total protein but also the composition of all essential amino acids.
Booijink assessed the likely effect on infant formula as low to moderate because some products rely more on basic whey than on the highly concentrated derivatives whose prices have increased most. Sports-nutrition products are more directly exposed because concentrated whey proteins are central to many of them. Producers in that segment have historically absorbed some higher costs through relatively healthy margins, but Booijink said there were limits to how long that could continue.
Products for older people also face higher input costs. They generally use more casein and less whey than sports-nutrition products, while acid casein prices rose by 29% over the period cited. Public sources and annual reports from Danone, Nestlé and FrieslandCampina have consistently shown higher margins in infant nutrition than in other dairy categories, Booijink said. That may allow some manufacturers to absorb raw-material increases, depending on their pricing power and competitive position.
A 2025 report by Britain’s Competition and Markets Authority found that manufacturers and retailers faced limited pressure to shield consumers from higher production costs, which had been passed on quickly and fully. In the United Kingdom, infant-formula prices increased by 45% between January and March 2026. Research by Swansea University said the higher prices were prompting some families to take on debt and adopt feeding practices they themselves considered potentially harmful to babies.
The CMA report listed price controls among possible interventions. Booijink said such controls were generally ineffective because they interfere with normal supply and demand. Higher WPC80 and WPI prices have already encouraged significant investment in new processing capacity, he said. Over time, that capacity could ease supply restrictions, whereas an artificial price ceiling could reduce the incentive to invest.
