Natural Food Colorants Market - Growth, Trend, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecast (2021 - 2026)

The global natural food colorants market was valued at USD 1,625.79 million in 2020, registering a CAGR of 8.47% during the forecast period (2021-2026).

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the consumers’ desire to know where their food comes from, while food affordability continues as a greater concern among consumers, worldwide. Moreover, the demand for locally produced food has escalated because the consumers are afraid of being infected by consuming more imported products that have a mysterious and unspecified ingredient origin. This has, in turn, benefited the new private label entrants in the food industry, as well as the local manufacturers of natural colorants.

As the situation generates continuous demands, to suppress and ultimately stifle the spread of the global COVID-19 pandemic, the world’s scientific and medical communities recommend the use of nutraceuticals to improve health and immunity, which is advantageous for the natural food colorant industry.

The high functionality of superfood, along with the positive perception of the term “natural”, has been the primary attribute raising the natural food colorant demand in the market. Consumers are greatly fascinated to use products with simple and understandable labels, which is pushing food companies to instead opt for coloring foodstuffs than other alternatives present in the industry.

However, the high cost of extraction and expensive raw materials discourage food manufacturers, primarily in developing countries, from being as progressive as big firms and brands that are constantly rooting for healthier food products. This factor is strongly identified as a significant market constraint, restricting natural food colorant to outperform in the industry.

Key Market Trends
Brightening Spotlight on Coloring Foodstuff

Food colors, in the form of coloring foodstuffs, have proven as no less than a revolution for the food industry that is currently being driven by value-added products and ethical consumerism. Consumers redirect their interest toward food products that are not only health-oriented but are ethically sourced, leaving none or least impact on the environment. Moreover, this thrusts the demand for natural food colorants and stresses on R&D activities to introduce unprecedented technologies, in order to exploit the maximum commercial potential of the market. For instance, in 2019, Naturex introduced Vegebrite® Ultimate Spirulina, a spirulina-based coloring foodstuff that uses a water-based extraction process, to ensure a 100% natural solution by delivering clean-label and trehalose-free formulations. It is available in various concentrations and formats.

This changing consumer behaviour and market dynamics for food colorants are pushing food manufacturers to quit formulating artificial additives in food products. As a result, major food companies, such as Kellogg’s, General Mills, Nestle SA, Campbell, and Kraft, have assured to restrict the use of artificial additives and colorants from their product formulations, portraying promising future for natural colorants, during the forecast period.

Asia-Pacific is the Fastest Growing Region in the Market

The leading natural food colorant manufacturers across the region possess a variety of application technologies, which they can utilize to test the performances of colors in a wide range of food and beverage applications. These include but are not limited to soft drinks, alcoholic drinks, confectionery, frozen desserts, yoghurts, baked goods, and processed foods. Natural food colors are used in the Asian food and beverage industry for various reasons. They make food products more visually appealing and emphasize or identify flavors normally associated with various applications. Owing to the wide cultivation of herbs and spices in the region, Asian ingredient companies started developing food coloring additives from various spices like turmeric, red chillies, and hibiscus. They offer multiple tints of yellow, red, pink, and orange colors from the combinations of paprika, curcumin, and hibiscus. These colorants are popular in desserts and beverage applications.

Notably, China represents the largest market in Asia-Pacific as the country accounted for more than 50% share across the APAC market in 2020. The Chinese food colorants market is driven by the advanced usage of naturally derived food colorants making the food appear attractive. Few of the popular natural food colorants used in Chinese food cuisines are carmine, bixin and norbixin, carotenoids, curcumin, anthocyanin, betanin, and phycobilin.

Competitive Landscape
The market studied is consolidated with few companies that emerged as the leading players owing to their market share in 2020 include, Chr. Hansen Holding A/S, Givaudan (Naturex), Koninklijke DSM NV, Sensient Technologies, and Symrise AG. The key players in the market studied are increasingly relying on product innovation and business expansion as the most adopted strategies among all others. There has been an extensive investment in R&D in the past years, which led to the introduction of numerous new products in the market. Moreover, merger and acquisition was another important strategy, among manufacturers, like DDW, The Color House, and Sensient Technologies.

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