WPI Supply in Australia

[Bioflex]

Hi Guys,

Just a note to let everyone know what is happeing with the supply of WPI in Australia at the moment.
We have been in the loop with this for many months, basically Fonterra the suppliers of the WPI that we (and most other Aussie companies) use and love has been severely restricted.

I am not sure on the exact story but it basically stems from the fact that they have a) sold masses to the Chinese as it is utilised in baby formulas and b) have shifted their focus on cheese production to other dairy commodities.

In most situations if there are trends in industries it has a bit of a ripple effect, unfortunately as China is so big and N.Z's production of WPI in comparison is quite small it has reduced the WPI in Australia down by about 90%!!

The issue then is that companies such as ours have to look elsewhere.
Earlier this month we utilised a U.S WPI which we weren't entirely happy with. Nutritionally it was great but it didn't mix as well as the Fonterra product, we will never use it again.

We actually have 10 tonnes of U.S stock arriving next week (which we had the foresight to order months ago) as we saw this problem coming.
The replacement U.S stock which we will be using is fantastic. It has very neutral taste and mixes even better than the Fonterra stock, with near identical nutritioal properties.
We were lucky enough to get a tonne of Fonterra stock to tie us over last week, however as I said it is very short on the ground.

You will notice this will be reflected in the general market, some people will offer Fonterra stock (as we are at the moment) however the supply for this will be very inconsistent.

The race is basically on to guarantee consistent supply elsewhere and we are extremely happy with the alternative we have found.

Please note, this does not effect the supply of WPC at all. At the moment there doesn't appear to be a shortage of this, so supply of this throughout Australia should be very consistent.

 

[davidb0312]

Thanks for the update, will you guys be letting people know what supplier you have used for the WPI (being sold at the time) on your website?

 

[Bioflex]

Thanks for the update, will you guys be letting people know what supplier you have used for the WPI (being sold at the time) on your website?

Hi Dave, we will likely update this information.

It isn't actually kosher in the industry for manufacturers such as us to list who supply us on our website as obviously there is a bit of confidentiality here.
I suppose it is a bit like us listing the details of who we get our flavourings, amino acids and other goods off, we work very hard to get them so keep then close to our chest.

In terms of finding out the proteins though, it's always as easy as buying a 20kg bag, as we supply them in the manufacturers bags so we certainly can't hide anything there.

 

[Eman]

Thanks for the update. I've never ordered of BN/BF before, but this gives me confidence in buying from you in that you're keeping us consumers updated.

Fairly soon (in the next week or two) I plan on ordering 5kg of WPI from BN. By that time, will the company be utilising the new stock that you're getting from the US?

Also, is there any chance of ordering any samples of your WPI and possibly even a sample of your super fine oats? I plan on ordering 5 or so kilo's of each in my next order, but as I've never tried any of BN's products, I'd like to sample the quality before I commit to a large order.

Thanks.

 

[davidb0312]

I suppose it is a bit like us listing the details of who we get our flavourings, amino acids and other goods off, we work very hard to get them so keep then close to our chest.

Good point, understandable, maybe you could keep it simple like (now using new supplier) as people in the know like those from Ausbb would know what you are on about and at the same time not giving away any secrets etc.

 

[Bioflex]

Eman, if you order within a week you will either get the Fonterra stock or the new U.S stock, I am very sure you will be happy with both as they are near identical.
It is hard for me to give you an exact answer as by then we will have both on our shelves.

The only product of concern was the WPI we used temporarily as we felt that didn't mix as well as previous lots. That is getting all used up now, still great nutritionally but just not as fine mixing as the usual standard we demand.

Regarding samples, last month we bought a fully automated machine which will allow us to produce 20,000 samples in a day. This is fantastic as it seals the bag, adds the powder and makes a cut which will mean soon we will never run out of samples.
our new sample pouches have graphics already printed so these require no labels either.

Unfortunately, we can only use it in our new factory which is a month away, so until then we have no samples. From that point on, we have no reason ever to be out of samples again, but for now - sorry