Market Research of Pea Protein Industry in China

Started in 2008 by Yantai Shuangta Food Co., Ltd., a former bean vermicelli company, pea protein industry in China is still at its fast expanding stage. China has become one of the biggest pea protein suppliers in the global market in recent years. Most of the pea protein producers in China are current or former bean vermicelli companies that are located in Shandong Province. Several current and potential pea protein producers are planning to expand their pea protein production in the following two years, which will support the steady growth of China’s pea protein industry.

China’s pea protein industry is currently at its fast expanding stage, primarily driven by the increasing overseas food industry’s demand for pea protein. Unlike EU and the US, application fields of pea protein in China are narrow. Most of pea protein was consumed by health-care food industry in China, while its applications in food processing industry were still at the research and development stage. It is necessary for pea protein industry participants to keep track on the developments of both pea protein producers and end users.

China used to be one of the biggest dry pea suppliers in the world. However, starting in the 1980s, dry pea planting area in China witnessed significant decline. As a result of the domestic dry pea supply shrink, China became one of the biggest dry pea importers in the world. All of the pea protein producers in China use imported dry peas from North America for their production nowadays, importing more than 900,000 tonnes of dry peas annually since 2013.

Currently, most of the pea processing companies are former Longkou vermicelli companies. Pea protein and pea starch are produced in the same production line in these companies, and vermicelli is produced in a separated unit using pea starch. Some of the pea processing companies also produce pea fiber as a by-product. As of 2017, there were seven pea processing producers with a total pea protein capacity of 67,453t/a in China. The national total pea protein capacity will increase to 146,313 t/a by the end of 2019 when all the capacity expansion projects are put into production.

China exported over 40,000 tonnes of pea protein to more than 40 countries and regions during Nov. 2016 to Oct. 2017. Export volume of pea protein from China usually reaches its annual peak during April to July of the year, when pea protein producers are actively producing. Most of the pea protein producers will have their seasonal shutdowns in every August for one month, and the others will have theirs during Aug. to Sept. of the year. Therefore the export volume of pea protein in Aug. and Sept. 2017 decreased with the output of it. The average export price of pea protein was in an overall upward trend from Nov. 2016 to Aug. 2017, and it started to decrease with fluctuations since then.

This research aims to study the production and market of China’s pea protein industry, as well as forecasts for the coming three years. This report provides detailed analysis on the elements affecting the growth of pea protein industry in China. Market drivers, restrains, opportunities and relative policies can be found in this report.

This report is based on data collected via diverse sources. The primary sources include interviews with industrial experts, key producers and key end users of pea protein. Various secondary sources include published magazines, journals, government statistics and CCM’s database, etc. Data obtained from various sources have been combined and cross-checked to ensure that this report is as accurate and methodologically sound as possible.

The key market players in pea protein industry are profiled in detail along with their recent developments. Key market participants studied include Shuangta Food, Oriental Protein, and Shandong Jianyuan, etc.

Scope of the report
Region scope: China.
Time scope: primarily 2015 to 2017 unless otherwise stated.
On the basis of industrial segments: pea supply, pea protein production, pea protein exports and consumption.
On the basis of pea protein specifications: feed grade pea protein, pea protein concentrate, and pea protein isolates.