Targeting Asia-Pacific market: Algatech increases reach with Supreme Health partnership

03 Apr 2018 --- Algatechnologies, Ltd. (Algatech) has become the major shareholder in Supreme Health, Ltd., New Zealand, to supply China and Asia-Pacific with astaxanthin and other algae-based products. The Asia-Pacific market for such products is valued at several hundred million dollars, and forecast to experience rapid growth. Israeli-based Algatech specializes in the commercial cultivation of microalgae and manufactures natural astaxanthin, marketed in 35 countries under its AstaPure brand.

NutritionInsight has previously reported on the AstaPure line, which touts a functional spray dried, water-soluble powder that contains 2.5 percent natural astaxanthin plant extract which can be used in powdered drinks and foods.

Supreme Health, based in New Zealand and led by CEO Kerry Paul, also markets natural astaxanthin and holds well-established marketing channels in China, New Zealand, and Australia. Here, a future focus will be on marketing microalgae ingredients and astaxanthin-based products to food, dietary supplement, and cosmetic industries throughout Asia-Pacific, with a particular emphasis on China.

"China is an important potential market not only because of the population size and increasing standards of living, it is mainly due to the unmet demands for high quality natural astaxanthin and other microalgae products from trusted suppliers. One of the best-known characteristics of algae is that it absorbs everything from the medium in which it is grown. Therefore the conditions, the technology and purity of the medium and equipment are an extremely important factor determining the quality of the end product. Both Algatech and Supreme Health offer consistent premium quality of products and adhere to strict quality assurance certifications," Hagi Stadler, CEO of Algatech, tells NutritionInsight.

It is the synergy of the two companies that will hopefully place Algatech at the forefront of micro-algal production globally, the company states, and aid the global expansions of sales and distribution with an on-trend product: “Products derived from microalgae produced in a sustainable system are on-trend and supported by strong scientific research. The key bioactives in microalgae show increased efficacy in higher concentrations,” says Kerry Paul, CEO of Supreme Health.

"This investment is in line with our core strategy to expand the potential of microalgae-derived products, especially natural astaxanthin which is our key ingredient,” says Hagai Stadler, CEO of Algatech. “Collaborating with Supreme allows us to increase our service of Asia-Pacific, especially in China. We identified a rapidly growing interest in those regions for quality astaxanthin and other quality algae-delivered products.”

"In the last years, Supreme Health developed new and innovative product delivery forms. Together with Algatech cutting edge technology, new concepts will be introduced to allow developing innovative products using algae sourced active ingredients, and specially Astaxanthin, in a way which will ensure its purity and potency. In addition, Supreme Health succeeded to establish effective sales and marketing channels in APAC countries which will contribute to our joint success," he adds.

This partnership is formed in an atmosphere where microalgae is enjoying its on-trend status, although its cultivation has been around for decades, especially in Aisa. The challenge for today’s burgeoning industry is to keep pace with demand for the fast-growing and nutrient-rich algae that is being included in new product innovations across the food, supplement, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and animal feed segments. 

Microalgae has been touted for several years as a sustainable alternative protein source for foodstuffs and animal feed because under certain conditions, their production requires significantly less agricultural land and water and the resulting greenhouse gas emissions could be low. However, the use of algae in food products is common in Asia, and in recent years it has become popular in the West in dietary supplements and superfoods.

In fact, Innova Market Insights reports +21 percent growth in new food & beverage launches featuring selected sea vegetables (2012-2016, global), which includes algae.

Furthermore, our sister website, FoodIngredientsFirst has investigated seaweed and microalgae as drivers in new product development in a special report.

By Laxmi Haigh

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