Mintec proposes to change the methodology of its Mintec Benchmark Prices for North American and Asian Plant-Based Proteins

All Market Notes 13 December 2022

Mintec proposes to change the methodology of its Mintec Benchmark Prices for North American and Asian Plant-Based Proteins to change the assessment unit from kg to lb.

Mintec is soliciting feedback on this proposal until Friday, 20th January 2023, and is proposing for this methodology change to come into effect on Tuesday, 28th February 2023, if supported by the industry.

The current methodology sees the assessment published on a “per kilogram” basis and Mintec is proposing to change this to “per pound” basis.

The proposed methodology change brings this assessment in line with the typical convention in North America and Asia for the plant-based protein trade. This proposed change would see the Mintec Benchmark Prices (MBP) become even more reflective of the terms of trade in these regions and provide greater transparency and usefulness for benchmarking to market participants. European users of these MBP would still be able to view these prices in kilogram by using the unit conversion function in the Mintec Analytics platform.

The proposed methodology change would mean that all historical data for North American Plant-Based Proteins (Mintec Codes SIA1, SCA1, SCA2, PIA1, PCA1 & PCA2) and Chinese Plant-Based Proteins (Mintec Codes 5G91, SIC1 & SCC1) would be amended to reflect a “per pound” assessment. This means that all assessments prior to the methodology change date, if the proposal is supported by the industry, would be divided by 2.20462.  

The below table shows what the effect on price points would be, taking November 2022 as an example:

This methodology change would take effect on Tuesday, 28th February 2023. 

Full details of the current methodology can be found in the Mintec Assessment Specifications Guide available here. Please send any feedback about this proposal to methodology@mintecglobal.com by Friday, 20th January, and clearly state which market note your comments relate to, and if comments are intended for publication by Mintec.

Mintec will acknowledge receipt of all comments by email.