Growing consumer interest in natural food ingredients and their tendency to label watch in an attempt to avoid synthetic products which they perceive as unsafe, has driven the use of more expensive natural food antioxidants.
But, a new study from international market analysts Frost & Sullivan, shows that the shift to natural antioxidants may not be as overwhelming as manufacturers might have expected.
Consumer awareness and the growth in the market for premium food products have certainly driven the use of more expensive natural antioxidants. This in turn has driven up the average antioxidant price and results in increasing revenues for the market as a whole. While naturals are growing at the expense of synthetics, industry participants will be surprised to discover that synthetics (hindered phenols and propyl gallate) still hold around a 40 per cent market share.
Lyndsey Greig, Food Industry Analyst explains: "Synthetic food antioxidants are holding on to market share owing to the fact that they are far lower cost products than natural antioxidants. But, consumer pressure will continue to drive the market toward the use of natural antioxidants over the forecast period of this study. By 2009 the total market for food antioxidants in Europe and US will have grown from its $190 million today to reach over $240 million.“
In Europe, food antioxidant prices have generally been falling as a result of increased competition in the market from Western and Asian manufacturers. However, hindered phenols are surprisingly experiencing a slow increase in price. In the US however, natural antioxidants are experiencing a period of price fluctuation while synthetics remain stable.
The European Food Antioxidant Report is a comprehensive analysis of the market from 1999 2009 and is segmented by antioxidant family: Hindered phenols (BHT, BHA and TBHQ)
Gallates; Vitamin E; Ascorbates & Erythorbates; Natural antioxidants.
