Wide market demand for phytosterols in the world

Low fat and low sterol foods can significantly reduce the incidence rate of heart disease, and thus create a wide market demand for phytosterols The European Union approved its application in food, the US FDA also passed its health claim of lowering cholesterol, which promoted the wide application of phytosterols In 2003, the European phytosterol market grew rapidly, with 3000 tons of phytosterols used in food, medicine, dietary supplements and cosmetics At that time, phytosterols had not been approved by the European Union as new food ingredients Complex EU regulations and unclear attitude of the regulatory authorities towards phytosterols have injected uncertainties into the growing market, and the cost of product application is as high as 125000-400000 US dollars Therefore, the phytosterol market at that time was controlled by only a few international giants One of the earliest phytosterol health claims passed by FDA was in September 2000, when the market was not significantly promoted because there were relatively few enterprises entering the field Three years later, Cargill, Cognis, ADM and other enterprises successively entered the phytosterol market, and the competition began to appear, and phytosterols also began to enter the "hot" component In February 2003, after the application of "phytosterol is good for heart health and can be applied to food and drink" submitted by Cargill, FDA approved the health claim of phytosterol is good for heart health and officially granted the market "legal status" of phytosterol Phytosterols began to emerge in the U.S market, and competition followed In 2003, Cargill established a phytosterol website to promote and educate consumers in order to improve consumers' awareness of its brand products; in the same year, Forbes medical technology company in Canada also established a website to recommend its own reducol brand, and Forbes also received the support of venture capital In 2004, it increased its production capacity by 50% to meet the growing market Market demand: in November 2004, German chemical company Cremer entered the U.S market with its phytosterols and dry dispersed sterols; also in 2004, ADM company and South Korean Eugene science company reached a proprietary technical cooperation agreement, ADM company can sell Eugene's phytosterol powder developed for the beverage industry in North America and Europe At that time, the global demand for phytosterols was 10000 tons The sales of vegapure of Corning company has maintained a stable growth since it entered the market in 2002; the sales of Forbes medical technology company's products in 2004 was US $14.16 million, a significant increase compared with us $11.58 million in 2003, with us $17.8 million in 2005; the sales of phytosterol products of Raisio life science company in Finland increased by 40% in 2004 Consumer demand for heart disease prevention in the United States has further boosted demand for phytosterols In January 2007, ptyto South's Texas plant increased its capacity by 40% In February 2007, the British Food Standards Agency approved the health ingredients of phytosterols in accordance with the new EU food regulations According to China plant extraction industry information network, EU market consumes more than 4000 tons of plant sterols every year In 2008, the EU phytosterol market reached 400 million euros, and the market growth rate is expected to reach 114% by 2012 In the European market, three major phytosterol supply giants, Corning, ADM and Raisio Life Sciences, control 79% of the market share in Europe, while 22 other companies account for 21% of the market share; 82.2% of phytosterols are used in functional food and beverage, and 17.8% in dietary supplements, drugs and cosmetics The market of dietary supplements in the United States is much more active than that of functional foods The application and market performance of phytosterols in the field of dietary supplements are excellent, but the market scale of phytosterol fortification and functional foods in the United States is smaller than that in Europe At present, there is still a huge gap between the overall strength of China's phytosterol ingredient supply enterprises and the international counterparts No matter in scientific research, product quality control, or terminal application, it can not be compared with the international giants The export of phytosterols in China is mainly low-end products.