Sami-Sabinsa Group opens second extraction plant to meet demand for curcumin ingredient

11 Oct 2017 --- Sabinsa’s parent company Sami Labs, which manufactures and markets phytonutrients and standardized herbal extracts, specialty fine chemicals and organic intermediates used in the nutritional, pharmaceutical and food industries, last week inaugurated a second Continuous Extraction Plant to meet demand for Curcumin C3 Complex.

This new facility will be exclusively used for curcumin extraction, increasing production of Curcumin C3 Complex to 25 tons from the previous capacity of 6 tons. The two Continuous Extraction units are spread across 5 acres in Dobaspet, Bangalore, India.  

Seeking to avoid the seemingly ubiquitous artificial ingredients in the food and cosmetics industry, health conscious consumers have increased the demand for natural herbal extracts globally. That preference for natural, accompanied by a robust body of research, has fueled enormous growth in the curcumin extract market. 

The company reports that the global curcumin market is expected to reach more than US$100 million by 2023, which is growing at a CAGR of 12.6 percent from 2017 to 2023. While the demand for curcumin in dietary supplements, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics have experienced continuous growth, nutraceuticals make up more than 50 percent of the curcumin demand share, both by volume and revenue, and continue to grow faster than the other segments.

“Because of turmeric’s historic place in India’s traditional medical system Ayurveda, India dominates world turmeric production, with 80 percent taking place here,” says Dr. Muhammed Majeed, Founder and Chairman, Sami-Sabinsa Group (pictured, middle). “With our Curcumin C3 Complex the world leader in curcumin ingredients, expanding extraction capacity to ensure that we can continue to meet demand was the logical next step.”

With increasing research into biological functions and activities of curcumin, another area of curcumin biology which is gaining a lot of attention is its metabolites. Shaheen Majeed, CEO of Sabinsa spoke to NutritionInsight at Vitafoods Asia 2017 about curcumin and other trending nutritionals.