Food fortification drives up customized premixes market
A recent report from Zion Market Research says the global food premix market was about $1.15 billion in 2018 and is expected to generate $1.66 billion by 2025, at a CAGR of 5.2% between 2019 and 2025.
The scoop
Premixes are customized, complex blends of prescaled ingredients. They combine vitamins, minerals, nutraceuticals, botanicals, colors, flavors, gums, fibers, amino acids and more for enrichment or fortification purposes. Premixes are used in food & beverages for all ages, animal feed, healthcare, and personal care applications to enhance the nutritional value of the products.
Market
Increasing health and wellness consumer awareness, growing demand for functional, fortified food products, changing food landscape and convenience are all factors predicted to drive the global food premix market in the future. The scope, product types, and applications are increasing on a global scale, creating lucrative opportunities for the premix manufacturers.
By application, the market includes dietary supplements, food and beverages, pharma OTC drugs, and others. The food and beverage segment is broken down by bakery products, sports nutrition, fortified dairy and beverages, and medical nutrition. Dietary supplements held a large portion of market share in 2018, due to the rising use of premix in food and dietary supplements.
The vitamins segment accounted for the largest share in the customized premixes market for nutrients while the beverage segment is the fastest-growing. Both can be largely attributed to vitamin deficiency in everyday diets and also due to the fact that they cannot be synthesized by the human body.
Durrell Washington, senior product marketing manager at Glanbia Nutritionals, tells us consumers want more products with specific benefits. “In supplements, we are seeing the macro personalized trend continue to have an effect on this category. Consumer needs are simultaneously broadening and focusing. While the standard multivitamin is still the largest category, condition-specific formulations are seeing the highest growth in the supplement space. We see that especially in gummies, which we estimate now represents over 15% of the US vitamin, mineral & supplement sales.”
Formulations
The powdered form is more popular because it is considered to be more stable than the liquid form. Powdered premixes are largely used across an extensive range of applications, including food & beverages, early life nutrition/baby food, pharma OTC, dietary supplement and nutritional improvement programs.
North America reigns supreme
The US, Canada and Mexico dominated the global food premix market in 2018 and trend is expected to continue over the forecast period. The regional growth is attributed to growing consumer health concerns, technological developments in food processing techniques, increasing research and development, and availability of food premix for dietary supplements.The key applications in this region include infant nutrition, clinical nutrition, beverages, dairy products, bakery and confectionary, and nutraceuticals supplements.
Premix kingpins
The report names key players functioning in the vitamin premixes market: DSM, Nutreco, Cargill, InVivo, NSA, DLG Groups, ADM, Glanbia Nutritionals, Animix, Burkmann, Hexagon Nutrition, SternVitamin, Vitablend Nederland Bv., Arasco Feed, Crown Pacific Biotech, BEC Feed Solutions, Lantmännen Lantbruk, Masterfeeds L.P., Watson Inc, Nutrius, Zagro.
Over the past few years, manufacturers like Glanbia have been investing in R&D for new plant-based protein supplements which is expected to create new opportunities in the near future. Earlier this year, the Irish dairy and ingredients conglomerate diversified into the ingredients space with the acquisition of US firm Watson for a reported $89 million. Now, Glanbia is tapping into its history in premix formulation to offer All N Off-the-Shelf Blends, which are pre-formulated with active ingredients and ready to use as a base for new product formulations. In many cases, these blends contain scientifically backed ingredients, are on trend with current industry insights and have been validated through Glanbia’s scientists.
“Available in our expanding All N Off-the-Shelf blends portfolio are blends that support keto, cognition, energy, sleep, women’s health and a host of other trending and health beneficial areas,” says Josh Stewart, global product manager at Glanbia Nutritionals. “These blends will provide our customers with a great starting point when developing their new product formulations, allowing them to get to market faster and easier.”
Glanbia Nutritionals recently completed a global study on consumers and supplement needs. NutraIngredients-USA plans to delve into these findings in more detail at an interview at the SupplySide West trade show later this month.
