17 September 2009 – As living standards improve and lifestyle paces quicken, our eating habits and preferences shift markedly toward time-saving products. The resultant high demand for prepared foodstuffs and convenience foods requiring better protection from oxidation bolsters the use of antioxidants. Nevertheless, growing industry costs continue to bog down the antioxidants market in Europe.
New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, EU Food and Feed Shelf-life Extension Antioxidants Market, finds that the market earned revenues of over $257.6 million in 2008 and estimates this to reach $348.6 million in 2015. The study covers prospects for shelf-life extension antioxidants, hindered phenols antioxidants, gallate antioxidants, vitamin C and E antioxidants, and ethoxyquin antioxidants.
“The long-term growth in consumption of poultry, and increased interest in pork consumption drives the food and feed antioxidants market in Europe,” says Frost & Sullivan Program Manager Sangeetha Srinivasan. “The higher levels of concentrates fed to these intensively-produced animals have a much stronger requirement for shelf-life extension antioxidants, although are also used in ruminant feeds. Thus, the market is growing healthily with an increasing overall trend for shelf-life extension food and feed antioxidants.”
Pork continues to be a highly-preferred meat in the EU, particularly in Spain and Poland, and has gained in popularity since avian flu outbreaks were first discovered. In general, there has been a long-term increase in the demand for poultry across the European region. Poultry consumption per capita has grown rapidly each year and overtook beef consumption in 1996, maintaining a strong lead ever since. Since then, the rapid growth in the antioxidant market is due in part to the higher levels of concentrate feed required for pig and poultry production, in comparison with more extensively-produced beef animals.
However, Europe’s aversion to genetically modified (GM) materials poses a challenge to manufacturers. Natural vitamins are often extracted from GM raw materials, since cross-pollination between GM and non-GM crops results in the contamination of non-GM crops, causing a shortage of ingredients like GM-free soya. The GM issue will likely hinder the volume growth of the food antioxidants market.
“Further, fluctuating raw material prices, affected by unpredictable changes in climate as well as social, economic and political factors, hamper business planning by market participants,” explains Sangeetha. “Competition is also possible from supplies of basic antioxidants from low-priced markets such as China and India.”
Unlike companies involved in specific segments of the supply chain, vertically integrated companies will be protected from these variations. Additionally, raw materials can be sourced from a wider regional stretch to minimise the impact of price changes. Overall, optimising production costs and adapting to evolving regulations seems to be the key to staying ahead in the growing EU food and feed shelf-life extension antioxidants market.