Regulatory Change a Boost for Emerging Supplement Markets – IADSA 

07/01/08 Changing regulations for dietary supplements across the globe has led to increased consumer demand in emerging markets, the International Alliance of Dietary/Food Supplements (IADSA) has said.

IADSA Global Market analyst Peter Zambetti said that regulatory changes such as a lowering of restrictions and increasing working relationships with local governments have seen emerging markets such as Romania and Turkey boom significantly in the last 10 years.

Speaking at a recent international conference on food supplements in Ankara, Mr Zambetti showed that while developed markets such as the European Union, the UK and the US are growing at an average of four to six percent per year, emerging markets see an average annual growth of 17 percent.

“The global supplement market is currently valued at $50 billion (US), and in general emerging markets are growing much faster than developed markets,” said Mr Zambetti. “In 1997 Turkey’s dietary supplement market was only $8.1million (US), whereas in 2006 it was valued at $195 million (US) - an average annual growth of 23 percent over the last 10 years. Romania too, for example, has seen 20 percent growth in the last three years.”

The conference, which drew more than 200 delegates, was organised by Turkish trade association and member of IADSA, BesDesDer. The event was opened by the Turkish under-secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture, and speakers included Mr Zambetti, European Union head of food law Basil Mathioudakis, and Dr Hans Verhagen from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) NDA panel.

“Overall the event was a huge success, and we were especially pleased with the positive attitude of the Turkish government towards our sector,” said Muge Cakir, Executive Director of BesDesDer. “Turkey’s food supplement market is booming – in the last two years the sector has doubled. There are still discrepancies that exist with some products which we believe should be regulated as foods but are still classed as drugs, but we are constantly working to address these issues and increase the credibility of the sector.”