The carotenoid market will exceed US$1.2 billion in 2015

According to the "Carotenoids: Global Strategic Business Report" published by the market research organization Global Industry Analysis (GIA), the market for carotenoids in 2010 was approximately US$1.07 billion. It is estimated that by 2015, This market will exceed $1.2 billion.

At present, the carotenoids produced through chemical synthesis dominate the global carotenoid market, but GIA pointed out that natural carotenoids are expected to be increasingly recognized by consumers. Due to the increasing demand for fortified products and natural products, natural extracted carotenoids (obtained through fermentation) are expected to take a share of the market share of synthetic carotenoids.

GIA pointed out that in this market, β-carotene is the largest product category, and 2010 sales are expected to be 392 million US dollars. The market monopoly of beta-carotene is due to its well-known health benefits and is widely used as a food coloring. The research report stated that this product category is facing a severe test as consumers turn to natural products such as carrot juice, especially in the European market.

From a product point of view, the fastest growing carotenoid in the world is canthaxanthin. The drastic increase in the number of lycopene producers has caused the price of lycopene extracted from tomatoes to drop, prompting a moderate expansion of lycopene in the North American market. Astaxanthin products extracted from algae are rapidly penetrating the market.

In addition, the lutein market will benefit from the increasing demand for eye-health supplements among the elderly. According to GIA, countries around the world are currently trying to control the rising cost of health care, and the health benefits of lutein have been confirmed by research, coupled with the continuous development of lutein extraction technology, the market demand for lutein It will continue to grow.

From the perspective of market distribution, the United States and Europe together accounted for the majority of sales in the global carotenoid market. However, developing countries are expected to have a good market performance and show a stronger development trend. The report pointed out that in the next few years, China, India, Japan and Malaysia are expected to make important contributions to the global sales of carotenoids, and Asian companies are posing a huge threat to European and American producers.

In the global carotenoid market, it can be seen that some veteran manufacturers are actively entering the developing country market in order to obtain more lucrative profits from the growing carotenoid market. DSM and BASF have a combined market share of about 55%, of which DSM is the world’s largest producer of synthetic carotenoids, and BASF ranks second. It is expected that they will continue to occupy a place in the global market for natural and synthetic carotenoids.

GIA reports that due to the antioxidant properties of carotenoids, the carotenoids used as health supplements will also have considerable growth. Interestingly, some countries are increasingly concerned about the sale of products containing carotenoids, which have attracted many well-known drug manufacturers in the world.

According to the GIA report, in the United States, sales of beauty supplements are growing at a faster rate than the use of carotenoids in other areas because consumers continue to view nutritional products as an alternative to cosmetic surgery. What is driving this trend is that distributors in the food and pharmaceutical industry have provided more and more raw materials for cosmeceuticals and have used scientific methods to increase the effectiveness of cosmeceutical products.