News

Raw material outlook august 2026

Maustepalvelu — Wed, 12 Aug 2026 11:00:00 GMT

Since spring, raw material prices have been affected by the military conflict between the United States and Iran. This has been visible especially in logistics costs and partly also in production costs through higher energy costs. Around 25% of the world’s crude oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz near Iran, which is why the situation has such a significant impact on crude oil prices and costs. Crude oil prices declined during the summer while peace negotiations were underway but rose again when the peace agreements failed to hold. There are still problems in the Suez Canal area with Houthi rebels, and most sea freight from the Far East continues to be routed around Africa. Lead times remain long and costs have increased. Companies have passed the higher costs on through various logistics surcharges or directly into raw material prices.

The El Niño weather phenomenon is developing in the Pacific Ocean and is forecast to become unusually strong towards the end of the year. El Niño temporarily increases the Earth’s average temperature and causes severe weather events: some regions suffer from drought and heat, while others experience floods and storms. Although the phenomenon originates in the Pacific Ocean, its impacts extend across the globe. Extremely high temperatures have already been seen in Europe, and forest fires have occurred in several countries. Together with the energy crisis and geopolitical tensions, these factors may affect the global economy and raw material price levels.

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Change of Managing Director at MP-Maustepalvelu Oy

Maustepalvelu — Fri, 12 Jun 2026 05:45:00 GMT

MP-Maustepalvelu Oy’s long-serving Managing Director, Mikko Salonen, will step down from his position on 7 September 2026. Anne Luhtala-Deimel has been appointed as his successor.

Salonen has been instrumental in the development of Maustepalvelu for more than 30 years and has served as Managing Director since 2010. Under his leadership, the company has grown into Finland’s leading food ingredients specialist and a professional supplier of functional and taste blends for the food industry.

Since Barentz acquired Maustepalvelu in 2014, the company’s turnover has nearly doubled. During Salonen’s tenure, Maustepalvelu also completed a major modernization of its production processes, warehouse operations, and office facilities. These investments have strengthened the company’s ability to meet the high quality standards and evolving requirements of today’s food industry.

To ensure a smooth leadership transition, Salonen will support Luhtala-Deimel’s onboarding through the end of 2026. Following this period, he will continue to contribute to selected special projects until summer 2027.

Luhtala-Deimel brings extensive leadership experience from the Finnish food and agricultural sectors. Since 2019, she has led Lantmännen’s agro business, overseeing sales, a large sales management organization, research and development activities, and close collaboration with production operations. Her responsibilities have also included an agro retail chain and e-commerce operations.

Prior to joining Lantmännen, Luhtala-Deimel held positions at Polarica and Atria, where she gained broad experience in the food industry.

With this appointment, Maustepalvelu continues to build on its strong foundation while pursuing further growth and new market opportunities. The company’s customer-focused approach remains a central part of its strategy as it enters the next phase of development.

Sustainability report of 2025: practical, measurable and transparent sustainability work

Maustepalvelu — Fri, 22 May 2026 07:45:00 GMT

Sustainability is part of Maustepalvelu’s everyday operations. We take it into account especially in the selection of raw material suppliers, in our own production, in employee wellbeing, and in the way we serve our customers. For us, sustainability means long-term development, reliable cooperation, and increasingly systematic monitoring of the impacts of our operations.

In 2025, we carried out a double materiality assessment based on the ESRS standards. Through this work, we identified the sustainability themes that are most relevant to Maustepalvelu’s operations and stakeholders. The assessment provides the foundation for our sustainability strategy for 2026–2028 and helps us focus our development efforts on the issues that matter most to our customers, employees, supply chain and the environment.

The report covers topics including environmental responsibility, social responsibility, value chain responsibility, good governance and financial responsibility. During the year, we continued to optimise transport, develop packaging materials, calculate our carbon footprint, and strengthen our work related to raw material origin and supply chain responsibility. Employee wellbeing, competence development and occupational safety were also key areas of our sustainability work.

The 2025 Sustainability Report brings together where we are today and what we will focus on next. Our aim is to continue our sustainability work in a practical, measurable and transparent way together with our customers, employees and partners.

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Raw material outlook february 2026

Maustepalvelu — Mon, 09 Feb 2026 15:00:00 GMT

In recent months, there has been a lot of uncertainty in world trade, e.g. in the form of various tariff threats. Political tensions have also created uncertainty in the global economy. The price of crude oil rose at the beginning of the year due to the unrest in Iran and the disputes between the EU and the US over Greenland. Extreme weather conditions continue and affect the yields of agricultural products. Sea freight prices from the Far East have started to rise slightly after the downturn. Shipping times are still several months from the Far East to Europe. Europe’s ocean ports have also been congested. European road transport, costs have risen, e.g. with the European Emissions Trading System (ETS) surcharges. From the beginning of 2026, 100% of confirmed emissions will be subject to charges. The distribution obligation for renewable fuels rose to 19.5% from the beginning of the year, which increases fuel prices.

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Raw material outlook september 2025

Maustepalvelu — Tue, 16 Sep 2025 07:00:00 GMT

In the summer, we have been able to enjoy changeable weather from rain to sunshine. In the economy, the situation has also been very variable. Different countries have taken turns negotiating trade agreements and tariffs with the United States. This has created uncertainty in trade. So far, larger import duties to Europe have been avoided, but we will see how the situation develops later. This has had an impact on exchange rates and we have seen the Euro strengthen against the USD. The situation in Israel and Gaza and the Middle East in general also creates uncertainty and has an upward impact on the price of crude oil and energy. The price of gas has also been rising in Europe since June. Extreme weather phenomena continue, there are long hot hot seasons and, on the other hand, heavy rains, which can affect future harvests. The price level of sea freight from the Far East to Europe was declining at the beginning of the year, but has started to rise slightly again due to increased demand. Shipping times are still several months from the Far East to Europe. In Europe, the road freight index increased slightly due to higher fuel prices and increased demand during the summer season.

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Sustainability report of 2024: transparency, reliability and long-term development

Maustepalvelu — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 06:45:00 GMT

MP-Maustepalvelu Oy wants to offer its customers first-class raw materials while maintaining its operations sustainable. We take sustainability into account above all in the selection of raw material suppliers and in our own operations. For this reason, we are committed to environmental sustainability, follow a carefully designed environmental program and take responsibility into account in all areas of our operations. We will continue to develop and analyze raw material supplier surveys as part of improving the transparency of the entire supply chain, and considering factors related to human rights, working conditions and the environment.

The starting points of our company’s operations include the motivation and encouragement of our personnel, as well as the continuous development and profitability of our operations. We want to offer our personnel good conditions to train, be motivated and develop further in their careers. Our stable economy enables the development of responsible business operations, and by investing in production equipment we improve our environmental responsibility.

In our new 2024 Sustainability report, we share insights into the global consumer trends for 2025, our sustainability goals, and the results of our double materiality analysis.

The commodity markets calmed down during 2024. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine still affected the situation, but conditions improved, and raw materials became more available. The price level remained high but slightly decreased. More raw material supply has been affected by the situation in the Middle East, making freight traffic in Asia more difficult. Ships still have to circumnavigate Africa, causing delays in delivery times and rising freight prices. Overhead costs also increased due to inflation. Security of supply in 2024 remained at a reasonable level.

One of our key environmental goals is to reduce packaging waste, improve recycling efficiency, and manage energy consumption at our Hämeenlinnaproduction facility. We have switched to emission-free energy, which has reduced our carbon footprint by about a quarter.

With these measures, we ensure that our business will continue to be responsible, serve our customers in a first-class manner, and be built on our solid pillars: health and wellbeing, decent work and economic growth, cooperation, and partnership.

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Market outlook February 2025

Maustepalvelu — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 11:15:00 GMT

Raw material markets have been bit more stable than before. Some prices of natural spices have risen due to poor harvests in producing countries. The price level of spices has also been raised by the fact that EU-compliant qualities have been less available. Shipments from the Far East still transiting through Africa, and there are still delays in deliveries due to congestion in Far Eastern ports. Asia has just celebrated the Chinese New Year, which causes delays in production and transportation even after the holiday season.

Energy prices have risen in Europe, especially for gas. The reason for the rise has been the cessation of gas deliveries from Russia to Europe via Ukraine. Energy reserves have been smaller during the winter season in Europe. The price of crude oil rose due to the situation in the Middle East and has been on an upward trend until the beginning of the year.

Additional charges have been added to transportation, related to the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS), which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Maritime transport is integrated into the emissions trading system in three phases, the first of which, covering 40% of emissions, was implemented in 2024. By 2025, the ETS is expected to cover 70% of emissions. By 2026, 100% of verified emissions will be chargeable. Environmental fees and drivers shortage have also increased road transport costs in Europe.

U.S. trade wars with various countries and countermeasures by these countries may in future increase raw material prices in the form of various customs tariffs.

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Sustainability report of 2023: Responsible business with first-class customer service

Maustepalvelu — Fri, 12 Apr 2024 08:15:00 GMT

Market outlook February 2024

Maustepalvelu — Wed, 31 Jan 2024 08:30:00 GMT

The raw material market has mostly stabilized towards the end of the year and the prices of various raw materials have fallen due to improved availability and lower costs. However, in several countries labour costs have risen due to inflation and the availability of labour.

Problems with raw materials from the Far East are caused by the situation in the Red Sea and the Suetz Canal. Houthi rebel attacks by ships have caused shipping companies to tour through Africa to Europe. This has caused delays in raw material flow and increased costs. Prices of sea freight have risen strongly since the turn of the year. The Chinese New Year in mid-February will also cause an increase in transportation demand and there have been challenges in the availability of ship capacity and sea containers.

Transport costs have also increased in Europe with new surcharges. The German road tax (Maut) rose to 1.12.2023 and it also affects transit traffic in Germany. Many Eastern European countries have also raised road tolls at the turn of the year. The ETS fee for transport, which is the European Union’s emissions trading scheme, also came into force at the beginning of the year. It aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in industry and energy production and to prevent global warming.

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Market outlook September 2023

Maustepalvelu — Wed, 27 Sep 2023 05:15:00 GMT

Raw material markets have been very volatile in last years. Prices increased to the level what we have not seen earlier because of covid years and war in Ukraine, which caused lack of raw material availability and very high production cost with many raw materials. Situation is now getting slightly better towards end of the year.

Many companies have high inventories due to earlier availability issues partly also decreasing demand caused by very high inflation rate in food. Price of energy is decreasing, but it depends very much what kind of hedges manufacturers have, to cover energy for their productions. Decrease of energy prices will mainly have impact of industrial cost next year but very much is depending on how energy markets will develop during the autumn and wintertime.

Still, we must carefully follow war situation in Ukraine. For example, Khakovka dam breach has caused enormous problems for agricultural land in Ukraine, which might affect for future availability of wheat and corn from that region. There have been bank failures in United States and in Europe which causes instability for the economy. We have seen strikes in Europe for better wages because of cost-of-living crisis. We have to follow weather conditions in Europe and all over the world as El Nino weather phenomenon is intensifying and it may cause extreme weather conditions like heat waves and heavy rains. Many parts in Europe but also in the world are suffering from drought and there is lack of water resources. This might affect fast for commodity future prices. This all causes still uncertainty for the rest of the year also for 2024.

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