Expansion of European Vitamin B Market on Back of Consumer Health Focus

31/08/06 A rising number of health conscious consumers have resulted in a number of food manufacturers reformulating products with natural ingredients. Perceived as natural and beneficial to health, Vitamin B is promoted for use in a number of application sectors such animal feed, food fortification, dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals and personal care.

Frost & Sullivan finds that the European Vitamin B Market earned revenues of $534.1 million in 2005 and estimates this to reach $1157.4 million in 2012. "The most important factor driving the growth of B-complex vitamins is the consumer interest towards self-medication", notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Ms. Nithya. "With burgeoning healthcare costs and reductions in reimbursement of healthcare expenditure by the Government, people have exhibited a growing interest in consuming nutritional supplements in order to maintain their health." This is reflected in the increasing demand for dietary supplements.

Despite these trends, the European Vitamin B market is highly saturated with not much scope for growth and innovation. Manufacturers in this commodity market are finding it increasingly difficult to compete with low-priced Asian products which benefit from cheap labour, favourable exchange rates and financial assistance from their governments. The availability of these low-cost, Asian products is intensifying price pressures in the market, while narrowing the profit margins of European manufacturers.

"To overcome the mounting competition from low-cost Asian manufacturers, European-based companies should ideally look at developing technologies to reduce production costs", advises Ms. Nithya. "Such advances in technology will enable European manufacturers to remain competitive in the global market." Investments into research and development activities will be key for technology and product advancement. Improvements in technology should focus on reducing manufacturing costs and developing high quality products, Frost & Sullivan concluded.