US Alternative Sweeteners Market
Conventional vs. alternatives
Few food ingredients have garnered as much attention or been more influenced by the latest food fads than sweeteners. This is partly because we consume so much of them, nearly $12 billion in 2008, but also because all sweeteners have some significant flaw, whether it be health concerns, taste or cost. For the most part, sugar and high-volume corn sweeteners such as high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) remain the dominant products, with sugar benefitting more recently from its rebranding as a pure, natural product (and by lower costs than HFCS). But sugar and HFCS are increasingly challenged by alternative sweeteners, which target consumers that want to reduce their caloric intake or who are concerned about diseases such as diabetes. Alternative sweeteners are expected to account for 12 percent of the market by 2013 (totalling $1.3 billion), with growth driven by strong advances for established products like sucralose and by the development of new products like stevia extract. While the large, but now slowgrowing carbonated soft drink market has been the key focus of alternative sweetener suppliers in the past, growth in other food applications will become more critical to future success. That success also depends on the development of products with better taste profiles than the existing leading brands and a continued reduction of sweetener costs.
Record of success
To date, the great successes for alternative sweeteners have been in diet soft drinks, sugarless gum, and tabletop sweetener products. Diet soft drinks have gained a third of the market, mainly because aspartame and ace-K have found consumer favor as an alternative to sugar and HFCS, building on a much smaller share of the market held by drinks sweetened with saccharin. Sugarless gum now outsells sugared gum, as blends of polyols and high-intensity sweeteners such as sucralose and ace-K can be combined to provide the right combination of bulk, texture, flavor profile and sweetness. The tabletop segment has long been receptive to alternative sweeteners. Saccharin retains a presence there and, more recently, sucralose has become dominant in the tabletop market. Natural alternatives such as reb-A and agave nectar are also gaining market presence.
Hope for the future
In other potential markets, adoption of alternative sweeteners has been slower. Although they can deliver the requisite sweetness for nearly any food or beverage application, they have generally fallen short in one way or another. Some are insufficiently stable when heated, limiting their use in baked goods and other processed foods, while others have an unpleasant aftertaste. And few alternatives successfully mimic the other physical properties beyond sweetness that make sugar a nearly indispensible ingredient in many food items. In some cases, the reasons for sluggish growth are less readily explained. Sucralose has not made a significant dent in the carbonated soft drink market, which remains by far the largest single outlet for alternative sweeteners. In contrast, ace-K is not widely used in applications outside of soft drinks. Stevia and its extracts will benefit from efforts to promote it as a natural alternative to other high intensity sweeteners, but offtastes remain.
Study coverage
Details on these and other key findings are contained in Alternative Sweeteners, a new industry study. It presents historical demand data (1998, 2003, 2008) plus forecasts for 2013 and 2018 by product and market. In addition, the study assesses key market environment variables, evaluates market share data and profiles 36 competitors in the US industry.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION viii
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
II. MARKET ENVIRONMENT 4
General 4
Demographic Trends 6
Macroeconomic Overview 8
Consumer Spending 13
Dietetic Food Overview 14
Health Overview 16
Diabetes 17
Obesity & Dieting 18
Pricing & Product Mix 21
Regulatory Overview 23
International Activity 26
Foreign Trade 28
III. SWEETENER OVERVIEW 30
General 30
Conventional Sweetener Overview 34
Sucrose 37
Corn Sweeteners 40
High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) 42
Other Corn Sweeteners 45
Other Conventional Sweeteners 46
Sugar Equivalency 48
IV. PRODUCTS 51
General 51
High Intensity Sweeteners 56
Aspartame 60
Markets 63
Suppliers 64
Sucralose 65
Markets 67
Suppliers 69
Saccharin 70
Markets 73
Suppliers 74
Acesulfame Potassium (Ace-K) 75
Markets 76
Suppliers 78
Neotame 79
Polyols 80
Sorbitol 83
Mannitol 86
Xylitol 87
Maltitol 89
Erythritol 91
Other Polyols 93
Other Alternative Sweeteners 95
Stevia 97
Agave Nectar 98
All Other 99
V. MARKETS 101
General 101
Food 104
Food Industry Overview 104
Alternative Sweetener Demand 106
Tabletop Sweeteners 109
Tabletop Sweetener Overview 110
Alternative Sweetener Demand 111
Candy & Confections 114
Candy & Confections Outlook 115
Alternative Sweetener Demand 116
Chewing Gum 119
Chocolate Candy 121
Other Candy & Confections 123
Dairy Products 126
Dairy Product Overview 127
Alternative Sweetener Demand 129
Ice Cream 132
Yogurt 132
Other Dairy Products 134
Other Food Products 135
Beverages 139
Beverage Industry Overview 139
Alternative Sweetener Demand 142
Carbonated Soft Drinks 144
Carbonated Soft Drink Overview 145
Alternative Sweetener Demand 147
Other Beverages 151
Other Beverage Overview 151
Alternative Sweetener Demand 154
Personal Care Products 156
Personal Care Product Overview 157
Alternative Sweetener Demand 160
Pharmaceuticals 161
Pharmaceutical Industry Overview 162
Alternative Sweetener Demand 163
VI. INDUSTRY STRUCTURE 166
General 166
Market Share 168
Formulators 171
Competitive Strategies 171
Cooperative Agreements 173
Research & Development 175
Marketing 176
Distribution 180
Company Profiles 181
Ajinomoto Company Incorporated 182
Alberto-Culver Company 183
Alcan Incorporated, see Rio Tinto
Archer-Daniels-Midland Company 184
Arnhem Group 186
BENEO-Palatinit, see Suedzucker
Cargill Incorporated 187
Celanese Corporation 190
Corn Products International Incorporated 192
CSM NV 194
Cumberland Packing Corporation 195
Danisco A/S 197
JMC Corporation 199
Johnson & Johnson 200
Makhteshim-Agan Industries Limited 203
MC-TOWA International Sweeteners Company
Limited, see Mitsubishi
McNeil Nutritionals LLC, see Johnson & Johnson
Merisant Company 204
Mitsubishi Corporation 207
NOW Health Group Incorporated 208
NutraSweet Company 209
Nutrinova Nutrition Specialties & Food Ingredients
GmbH, see Celanese
Pharmed Medicare Private Limited 212
PMC Global Incorporated 213
PureCircle Limited 214
Rio Tinto Group 216
Roquette Freres SA 217
San Fu Chemical Company Limited 219
Suedzucker AG 220
Sugar Foods Corporation 221
Tate & Lyle plc 222
United American Industries Incorporated 224
Whole Earth Sweetener Company LLC, see
Merisant
Other Companies Mentioned in Study 226
LIST OF TABLES
SECTION I -- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Summary Table 3
SECTION II -- MARKET ENVIRONMENT
1 Population & Households 8
2 Macroeconomic Indicators 12
3 Personal Consumption Expenditures 14
4 Diabetes & Obesity Conditions 17
5 Selected Alternative Sweetener Prices 23
SECTION III -- SWEETENER OVERVIEW
1 Sweetener Demand by Type & Market 33
2 Conventional Sweetener Demand by Type 36
3 Sucrose Demand by Market 40
4 Corn Sweetener Demand by Type & Market 42
5 High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) Demand by Type & Market 44
6 Other Corn Sweetener Demand by Type & Market 46
7 Other Conventional Sweetener Demand by Type 48
8 Sugar Equivalency 50
SECTION IV -- PRODUCTS
1 Alternative Sweetener Demand by Type 54
2 High Intensity Sweetener Demand by Type 59
3 Aspartame Demand by Market 63
4 Sucralose Demand by Market 67
5 Saccharin Demand by Market 73
6 Acesulfame Potassium (Ace-K) Demand by Type 76
7 Neotame Demand by Market 80
8 Polyol Demand by Type 83
9 Sorbitol Demand by Market 85
10 Mannitol Demand by Market 87
11 Xylitol Demand by Market 89
12 Maltitol Demand by Market 91
13 Erythritol Demand by Market 93
14 Other Polyol Demand by Market 95
15 Other Alternative Sweetener Demand by Type & Market 96
SECTION V -- MARKETS
1 Alternative Sweetener Demand by Market 103
2 Food Shipments 106
3 Food Markets for Alternative Sweeteners 108
4 Tabletop Market for Alternative Sweeteners 114
5 Candy & Confection Shipments 116
6 Candy & Confection Market for Alternative Sweeteners
by Application & Type 119
7 Chewing Gum Market for Alternative Sweeteners 121
8 Chocolate Candy Market for Alternative Sweeteners 123
9 Other Candy & Confection Market for Alternative Sweeteners 126
10 Dairy Product Shipments by Type 129
11 Dairy Market for Alternative Sweeteners by Application
& Type 131
12 Other Food Markets for Alternative Sweeteners
by Application & Type 138
13 Beverage Production 142
14 Beverage Markets for Alternative Sweeteners 144
15 Carbonated Soft Drink Production 147
16 Carbonated Soft Drink Market for Alternative Sweeteners
by Type 150
17 Other Beverage Production 154
18 Other Beverage Markets for Alternative Sweeteners by
Application & Type 156
19 Cosmetic & Toiletry Supply & Demand 159
20 Personal Care Product Market for Alternative Sweeteners
by Type 161
21 Pharmaceutical Shipments 163
22 Pharmaceutical Market for Alternative Sweeteners 165
SECTION VI -- INDUSTRY STRUCTURE
1 US Alternative Sweetener Sales by Company, 2008 167
2 Selected Cooperative Agreements 174
LIST OF CHARTS
SECTION III -- SWEETENER OVERVIEW
1 Sweetener Demand by Market, 2008 34
2 Conventional Sweetener Demand by Type, 2008 37
SECTION IV -- PRODUCTS
1 Alternative Sweetener Demand by Type: Volume &
Value, 2008 55
2 High Intensity Sweetener Demand by Type, 2008 60
SECTION V -- MARKETS
1 Alternative Sweetener Demand by Market, 2008 103
2 Food Markets for Alternative Sweeteners, 2008 109
SECTION VI -- INDUSTRY STRUCTURE
1 Alternative Sweetener Market Share, 2008 168
