Plant extracts are products formed according to demands for purposes of final products to extract, by taking plants as the raw material and upon physical and chemical extraction and separation to directionally obtain and concentrate certain or many effective ingredients without changing their effective structures, and are important part of the bio-medicine.

The plant extract industry is an emerging industry. Some European countries started to produce and apply plant extracts early in the 19^th century, however, they were in the bud and at a small scale, not to mention forming an industry. Until the beginning of 1880s, there was the "returning to nature" frenzy in the world; people developed a sense of security towards the purely natural Chinese herbal medicine after feeling the negative effects of chemical synthetic drugs, thus making development of plant extracts rapid and irresistible. Thereafter, Germany, UK, U.S., and Italy, etc. started to produce the Chinese herb extracts and use them in TCM health products.

Size of plant extract market

The stable growth of demand for plant extracts worldwide, especially in European and American developed countries and regions, etc. in recent years has greatly stimulated development of the industry. According to data of Research Report of Production and Sale Demand and Investment Forecast Analysis on China Plants Extracts Industry issued by Forward Industry Research Institute, the global sales of plant extracts reached USD 10.14 billion in 2006, and reached USD 33.32 billion in 2016, with the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) reaching about 12.63%.

Growth of Size of Global Plant Extracts Market in 2006-2016 (Unit: USD 100 million, %)

Note: The data are obtained upon processing of data of each regional market.

Source: Organized by Forward Industry Research Institute

Competition situation of plant extracts

Herbal medicines have become pharmaceutical products more popular with consumers in many countries, however, the consumption of herbal medicines varies much in different countries and regions. Globally, natural drugs mainly concentrate in Asia, Europe, and U.S. According to the estimation of Freedonia Group, the market demand for natural drugs will grow at 13% per year. According to information from multiple channels, the increased demand of the Western countries for natural drugs is an important factor driving the rapid rise of the natural drug market.

Comparison of Size of Herbal Medicine Markets in the World (Unit: USD 100 million)

Source: Organized by Forward Industry Research Institute

Under the background of constant growth of size of the global herbal medicine market, the global plant extract market continued the growth in 2016, and formed the situation of four strong countries: U.S., Germany, Japan, and France. The German plant extract market developed fast, and surpassed the U.S., with the sales of plant extracts accounting for 22.68% of the world; the U.S. still maintained the advantage, with the size accounting for 22.21%, followed by Japan with the size of plant extract market accounting for 19.75% of the world, to exceed 20% soon; France accounted for 13.21%; China has an increasingly important position in the world upon the rapid development in recent years, with the size of plant extract market accounting for 7.16%.

Regional Distribution of Global Plant Extracts Markets in 2016 (Unit: %)

Source: Organized by Forward Industry Research Institute

Development trends of plant extracts

1. To become the new hotspot in global drug market and R&D

25% among the chemical drugs produced worldwide were originally from plants, with the most famous ones including aspirin, quinine, digitalis, vinblastine, and taxol, etc. There are currently two trends in the herbal medicine R&D: the ingredient research method represented by the U.S. (i.e., the Western medicine method: drugs with single molecule structure extracted from plants), and the component research method of EU countries represented by Germany, which is more convenient for commercial development and fits more the realities of China’s herbal medicine industry.

The European herbal medicine market is relatively mature in terms of development in policies and regulations, technical level, and consumer psychology, etc., therefore, EU can serve as a convenient way for Chinese enterprises to enter the international herbal medicine market.

2. The demand for plant extracts as natural health product to constantly grow

Research in recent years has proved that a large number of "modern diseases" in modern society, like coronary heart disease, cancer, hypertension, and diabetes, have a great relationship with people’s diet. People realize that some natural plant extracts may provide health care and even prevent and treat some diseases, and it’s better to use natural health food to prevent diseases than take medicines after getting sick.

The international demand for herbal medicines is increasing. Consumers’ demand for products using organically grown herbs as raw materials constantly grows, and such trend will continue; plant formula products with sufficient scientific arguments gradually increase, to help draw health food stores closer to the mass market.

Source: https://bg.qianzhan.com/trends/detail/506/180327-d4125c8d.html

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