Nutraceuticals sales to hit $75 billion
(€68.5bn) by 2007, growing at an average rate of 9.9 per cent
annually for the next five years, says a new report.
The global nutraceuticals market grew from $38.2 billion in 1999 to $46.7 billion in 2002, an average annual increase of nearly 7 per cent, according to a forthcoming report from market analysts Business Communications Company.
And the report noted that these figures include only legal sales of nutraceuticals - black market items such as anabolic steroids, estimated to be worth $400 million per year in the US alone, are not included in the report.
The BCC report, which includes dietary supplements or 'nutritional supplements' in its definition of nutraceuticals, found that the fastest growth occurred between 1999-2000 when nutraceutical sales grew by 17.5 per cent.
Since then market growth has slowed to 2 per cent annually in 2001 and 2002, impacted to a large extent by the slowdown in the world economy. The 'Evolving Nutraceutical Business' report, (RGA-085R) also cited the publication of studies questioning the effectiveness of high-profile nutraceuticals such as ginkgo biloba as a factor behind recent slow growth.
There has also been a lack of new 'blockbuster' nutraceuticals to catch consumers' interest, notes the report. And finally, competition among nutraceutical producers has driven down average prices, showing some effect on the market value.
Despite these factors, over the next five years to 2007 nutraceutical sales are projected to grow at an average rate of 9.9 per cent annually, reaching $74.7 billion by 2007. This is of course partly based on the expectation that the world economy will accelerate in 2003.
The projected growth also assumes that the recent round of intense price competition has mostly run its course, and that there will be no major increase in regulation of nutraceuticals beyond present levels, particularly in the United States.
On the other hand, says BCC, nutraceutical sales could be accelerated past the forecast levels by the introduction of a new blockbuster nutraceutical that captures consumers' imagination in the way that nutraceuticals like ginseng and ginkgo have in the past.
The report is released in April 2003.
