Second round of price hikes at Solae

The global provider​ of soy products said that as from 1 March 2005 the price of its soy protein isolates and nuggets will increase by 5 percent and the price of its soy protein concentrate, flour and fiber products by 7 percent.

The St. Louis, Missouri based company justified the price hikes saying that they are in line with rises across the board of protein products.

"Increased consumer demand for all sources of protein worldwide has impacted the cost of proteins this past year, including soy proteins,"​ said James McCarthy, senior vice president North America for specialty products. "For example, dairy protein increased in price by 15 percent to 40 percent last year, while pork and poultry prices increased by 19 percent and 26 percent, respectively. Given those figures, we believe our increases are modest."​

The company said that effective from the same date would be an increase on the premium for all Identity Preserved (IP) non-GMO products by an additional $0.05/kg.

"Plantings of genetically modified soybeans globally continue to escalate and are expected to reach as high as 90 percent of the US soybean crop in 2005.​

"This price increase reflects the cost associated with securing and segregating the necessary IP non-GMO soybeans and their related soy protein products,"​ said McCarthy.

He said that the growth in protein consumption was being driven by rising global GDP and recognition of the health benefits of protein in diets. Soy protein, in particular, is being chosen by more consumers to help in weight management and to reduce the risk of heart disease, according to McCarthy.

This announcement follows hot-on-the-heels of that which came at the end of January saying the company was to up the price of its soy lecithin products by between five and 12 percent because of rising costs.

"In general the most expensive products will go up less,"​ Jack Self, head of the lecithin business at Solae, told FoodNavigatorUSA.com, blaming the price hike on the rising cost of energy and a variety of increases in the cost of transportation and packaging.

"We have explored many options to reduce cost and manufacturing efficiencies to avoid passing on any increased costs to our customers,"​ said Self.

"However, ongoing increases in external factors has made a price increase unavoidable."

Away from the price increases, Solae was trying to focus the spotlight on its new tagline "Better Ingredients for Better Living"​, which its marketing team felt summed up exactly what the firm was about: "a company that markets a wide variety of high quality products that bring value to the end-user by making foods and beverages that are healthier, more flavorful, more stable, more appealing and more affordable"​, according to Garnet Pigden, global vice president of marketing and business development