Natural Intense Sweetener Market

It was seen in the past that Asia favours stevioside and glycyrrhizin as sweeteners. Some of the most important end-uses for sweetener through out Asia include pickled foodstuffs and highly flavoured pastes and sauces derived from fish, milk and soybean ? Interestingly, sugar is not often the sweeteners on test grounds. In 1994 due to the new “Dietary Supplement Act” in the USA a change came for the use of stevioside. Since 1995 it is possible to sell stevioside as “Dietary Supplement” in the USA without mentioning its sweetening properties. It was estimated that the sales in 2000 have been more than 10 Million US-$.

One important reason for stevioside’ S popularity in Asia is its image as a natural intense sweetener. As such, it has become a popular ingredient in products such as sport drinks. Food and beverage manufactures throughout the Asian region have also exploited the tests and sweetening synergies that exist between stevioside and fructose. In 1997 stevioside ended a first phase of rapid growth mainly due to the emerging economic crisis of Asia. However it regained the growth rates of the before already in 1998 again mainly due to its natural character. In 1999 a new blend was launched in Japan using acesulfam-K and stevioside (Rebaudio-ACK), for the use in beverages.

Japan as model

The natural intense sweetener market is analysed with Japan as a model. The whole market in 1996 was about 790 tons: Aspartame with about 200 tons, Saccharin with about 190 tons, Acesulfame k with about 20 tons; the natural intense sweeteners glycyrrhizin with about 170 tons (21%) and stevioside with about 210 tons (27%), which is together a market share of 48% of the intense sweeteners market.

Glycyrrhizin is derived from Liquorice with an associated with an associated taste. It has declined in sales in parallel to demand for the savoury or salty foodstuffs in which it has traditionally been used as a sweeteners and flavour enhancer. Meanwhile, Stevioside sales have gone from strength to strength. In Japan, stevioside has been preferred to Aspartame or Saccharin in a number of applications. In some cases, this is because stevioside is seen as a natural sweetener, since it is because stevioside is more stable than aspartame. Stevioside shows a strong increase in market entrance of aspartame in Japan. But after a few years the manufacturers in food and beverage industry discovered the disadvantages of the weak stability of aspartame and preferred the use of stevioside as intense sweetener in their foodstuffs. Market share of stevioside in Japan; Land ell Mills, JETRO.

In South Korea, stevioside, rather than aspartame, has been beneficiary from the beginning of the use of saccharin in the local soju alcoholic beverage. Today Japan uses about 3.200 tons of intense sweeteners where about 600 tons may the share of stevioside. In China according to a release of the US embassy the production is probably less than it. A large proportion of the production is exported, primarily to other countries in East Asia, but also to the USA.