HNC and Hi & Fi Asia-China live: Spotlight on booming Chinese probiotics market

20 Jun 2024 --- Probiotics are well established in China, with industry players expecting the market to expand even further. Many companies in Asia are featuring their probiotic innovations at the ongoing Healthplex & Nutraceutical China (HNC) trade show, which is co-located with Hi & Fi Asia-China (June 19–21, 2024). 

On the show floor, Nutrition Insight discusses the developments in the Chinese probiotics market with key players BioGrowing, Probi and IFF Health. 

“In the past, we mainly exported to other countries, but in the last two to three years, we see that the Chinese market is gradually increasing,” says Xiaojiang Shi, sales manager of China at BioGrowing. The company has produced probiotics for over 20 years, exporting to more than 70 countries. 

“Even though the international market is still our major market, we see that the Chinese market is becoming increasingly important.”

Science-backed health areas 
Shi highlights that Chinese consumers are interested in brands and their intellectual property. “At the same time, they pay close attention to the data from the experiments and scientific research.”

The company’s R&D team is located in BioGrowing Research, encompassing four institutes and a library with over 4,000 probiotic strains with independent intellectual property rights. These strains are derived from traditional fermented foods, pollution-free pastoral areas in Tibet, commercially available fermented milk samples from around the world and collaborations with research institutions. 

BioGrowing Research focuses on technical R&D of probiotic strains, fermentation manufacturing, active functionality and product applications in various health areas, such as gastrointestinal, immune and metabolic health. 

“Currently, the most important category is still gut health,” underscores Shi. “Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in probiotics for all different categories, whether international or in the Chinese market. So there’s an overall increase.”

BioGrowing sees that the Chinese market is gradually increasing, with a strong focus on gut health.Asia-Pacific region 
The multinational probiotic R&D company Probi highlights that the Asia–Pacific (APAC) region is the largest probiotic market globally. China is the primary market within the region. The company is strengthening its position in the region, with a strategic focus on China. 

Sarah Wang, marketing manager of APAC at Probi, tells us that the Chinese market has developed very quickly in the last ten years. 

“We can see many new brands came out with probiotics products. We found that China’s growth rate and CAGR rate is more than twice the rate in the global market.”

She explains that consumers and brand owners in China are increasingly aware of the potential health benefits of probiotics beyond gut health. She notes that they “explore other health functions for probiotic products, like immunity and bone and mental health.”

At the show in Shanghai, Probi showcases its probiotics for five different health claims: gut health, immunity, iron absorption, bone health and mental well-being through the gut-brain axis. 

“We are exploring and expanding our portfolio,” Wang continues. “The next step, we think, will be metabolic health, women’s health and sports nutrition. We’re also doing some research on postbiotics.”

At HNC 2024, Sarah Wang, marketing manager APAC at Probi, sheds light on the Chinese probiotics market.Local to global 
At HNC 2024, IFF focuses on three applications for its probiotics: gut health, immunity and healthy aging. 

Susan Jin, head of BU IFF Health in Greater Asia, notes that the company started in China 20 years ago. At the time, the company started isolating probiotic strains from China based on the country’s long tradition of heritage foods. “We have 1,000 years of history on fermented food.” 

“We tried to isolate this strain because there is a consumer perception that strains isolated from local foods may be better for the local population,” explains Jin, “even if this is not true from a scientific perspective.” 

“We need to collect more microbes from all over the world; China is a part of the global bioresources. We isolate the strain from Chinese fermented food, and we try to study the genome. We’re trying to learn more science from the Chinese origin of micro resources.” 

She explains that IFF’s global team will also study these identified Chinese probiotic strains as part of the company’s international strategy. 

Meanwhile, Jin observes a growing demand for gut health probiotics. She explains that China’s younger generation has a greater need for these products because they eat Western food and live a Western lifestyle. “They have more stressed work, don’t get enough sleep and like to play very late.” 

“The gut is an organ that likes a regular schedule; if your schedule does not keep to a regular basis, it will bring some disorder,” she continues. “For example, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) is a functional problem. It’s not the problem that you have anything wrong with your gut, but with probiotics, you can adjust your gut health to let it work properly.” 

By Jolanda van Hal, with additional reporting by Missy Green at Hi & Fi Asia-China in Shanghai