Domestic output of sugar alcohol witnesses uptrend in recent years

Sugar alcohol has witnessed fairly fast development in China in recent years according to CCM's newly issued report, Survey of Sugar Alcohol in China. In detail, the outputs of sorbitol, maltitol, xylitol, mannitol and erythritol, five main kinds of sugar alcohol, reached 839,600 tonnes, 80,400 tonnes, 66,900 tonnes, 22,700 tonnes and 11,500 tonnes in 2012, growing with CAGRs of 12.2%, 12.1%, 7.6%, 16.1% and 34.6% respectively in the past four years (FIGURE 6).

The increasing output of sugar alcohol in China is mainly attributed to growing demand from downstream industries especially food and pharmaceuticals industries, the two largest consumption fields of sugar alcohol which consumed 82% of domestic sugar alcohol in 2012 (FIGURE 7). For example, the consumption quantity of sugar alcohol in confectionery, baked food and beverage were about 134,000 tonnes, 124,000 tonnes and 34,000 tonnes in 2012, up 52.2%, 176.9% and 111.5% respectively compared with those in 2010. China's food industry has undergone rapid development in recent years, pushing up demand for sugar alcohol as food additive. The year-on-year growth rates in the output of food industry in China were 17.1% in 2011 and 11.9% in the first 11 months of 2012 according to data from National Bureau of Statistics of China. In addition, people care about their health far more than before and they prefer food with no or low content of sugar as the number of diabetic and obese patients is becoming larger and larger in China. Hence, demand for sugar alcohol such as xylitol and erythritol grows because they perform well as sweeteners that do not raise blood sugar level.

As for the consumption in pharmaceuticals industry, sugar alcohol is mainly applied in vitamin C (VC) and injection products. Although the consumption volume of sugar alcohol in VC did not see growth due to the poor export performance of VC, the consumption volume of sugar alcohol in injection products enjoyed rapid growth. Specifically, the consumption volume of sugar alcohol in injection products was 96,600 tonnes in 2012, up 62.7% compared with that two years ago. In detail, the CAGRs of the consumption volumes of sorbitol, mannitol and xylitol in injection products in China were 27.6%, 16.5% and 47.3% respectively during 2010-2012.

It is predicted that domestic output of sugar alcohol will keep uptrend in the future due to the increasing demand from downstream industries. In the Development Plan of Biological Industry issued in Dec. 2012, domestic biological pharmaceuticals shall increase with a CAGR of over 20% in output value during 2013-2015. And as indicated in the 12th Five-Year Development Plan (2011-2015) for Food Industry, the output value of China's food industry will grow with a CAGR of 15% during 2011-2015. Consequently, the fast developing downstream industries will boost demand for sugar alcohol, increasing its output in the future.

Table contents of Corn Products China News 1301:

Supply of xanthan gum in China to increase in 2013

Chinese corn products Imp. & Exp. analysis in Nov. 2012

Domestic market price of citric acid declines during Nov. 2012-Jan. 2013

Market price of corn oil sees general uptrend during Dec. 2012-Jan. 2013

Meihua Group plans to produce pullulan

Baolingbao makes progress in production technology of oligosaccharides

Domestic output of sugar alcohol witnesses uptrend in recent years

Output of glutamine in China rebounds in 2012

MEP renews lists of citric acid and MSG producers meeting environmental laws & regulations

Domestic supply of corn to be sufficient in H1 2013

China imports corn from Argentina for the first time

2012/2013 state reserve of sugar launched

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