A new report has revealed that worldwide demand for flavors and fragrances—including flavor blends, fragrance blends, essential oils, and aroma chemicals—is projected to rise 4.4% annually through 2016, reaching $26.5 billion.
In its October 2012 World Flavors & Fragrances Market report, market research firm the Freedonia Group said it expects increasing packaged food manufacturing, especially of convenience products that require higher flavor usage, will drive fast growth in developing countries. Rising personal consumption expenditures in these emerging economies is also expected to stimulate toiletry and cleaner shipments, which will contribute to healthy growth in fragrance blends.
Increasing global interest in products that promote health benefits will also drive demand in both the food and beverage and cosmetics and toiletry markets, as masking flavors and fragrances are employed in conjunction with antioxidants and vitamins to reduce off-tastes and off-odor, the report said. Furthermore, efforts in developed countries to reduce calories, salt, and fat in foods will increase demand for flavors to improve the taste of those products.
In addition, there has been a global rising interest in natural, organic, and more expensive products across a number of consumer markets, including food and beverages and toiletries and cleaners. The report projects that industry efforts to meet this demand will drive increased value consumption of nearly all types of flavors and fragrances, with the exception of aroma chemicals, which will be replaced by essential oils in certain product categories.
Rapidly rising incomes and urbanization in developing countries is spurring interest in convenient packaged foods and fast food, which will also boost growth in the food and beverage market, as packaged goods require high flavoring loadings to preserve taste in the face of large-scale manufacturing. The report expects this will lead to particularly fast growth in countries such as China and India in the Asia/ Pacific region, as well as countries in Central and South America.
In developed countries, food and beverage flavor and fragrance demand is expected to benefit from increasing customer interest in vitamin-containing foods, which require flavors to mask the unpleasant taste of these ingredients, and growing concerns about obesity.
Health concerns will also drive growth in the toiletry and cleaner market. Cosmeceuticals and anti-aging cream, popular among the expanding older segments of the population in developed countries, contain additives with off-odors that must be masked by fragrances. However, increasing consumer interest in fragrance-free products, as well as limited opportunities in the cleaner market, will limit even faster advances, the report says. While demand in developed countries is relatively mature, the report also adds that continued recovery in cosmetics and toiletry shipments from the 2009 global economic recession will improve consumption of fragrances in areas such as Western Europe and North America.