Market Size and Growth

The global food additives market is expected to grow at a rate of approximately 3% per year in the coming years to reach approximately USD 40 billion by 2025. China, as one of the largest producers and consumers of food additives in the world, is also expanding its market size.The total production of major varieties of food additives in China reached 16.11 million tons in 2023 and is expected to increase to 17.59 million tons in 2024. China's food additives market size exceeds RMB 100 billion and will continue to grow in the future.

Industry Competitive Landscape

Competition in the Food additive industry has become increasingly fierce, and major companies have increased product development and marketing efforts in an effort to occupy a favorable position in the fierce market competition. Competition is mainly concentrated among some well-known enterprises, such as Anhui Golden Harvest Industry, Meihua Biological, Aipu Spice Group, Fufeng Group and Novozymes. With the intensification of market competition and the increase in regulatory requirements, it is expected that the market concentration will continue to increase in the future.

Changes in Consumer Demand

With the popularization of the concept of healthy diet, there is a growing consumer demand for additive-free, pollution-free, natural and healthy food. Nutritional health food additives and natural food additives are becoming increasingly popular. In order to meet the market demand, the food additives industry will continue to innovate and improve, and promote the development of products in the direction of high functionality and high value-added, such as the development and application of compounding additives.

Policies, Regulations and Supervision

As governments continue to tighten regulations on food additives, compliant production and sales have become a key factor in the development of the industry. Enterprises need to pay close attention to changes in regulations to ensure that their products comply with relevant standards. For example, GB2760-2024 “National Standard for Food Safety, Standard for the Use of Food Additives” will come into effect on February 8, 2025, which provides detailed regulations on the definition, scope of use, and amount of food additives. The new regulations also require companies to indicate more clearly the type and amount of additives used on product labels.

Technological Innovation and R&D

Technological innovation is the core driving force behind the development of the food additives industry. With the continuous progress of science and technology, the application of new technologies, processes and materials will greatly enhance the production efficiency and product quality of food additives. For example, new technologies such as nanotechnology, bioengineering, genetic engineering and enzyme engineering will be used to produce safer and more efficient food additives. In recent years, China's food additive industry has been increasing R&D investment and improving technology, and through innovative research and development a series of new food additives, such as natural antimicrobial agents and enzymes, have been introduced to meet market demand.

Summary of Development Trends

Naturalization: With consumers' increasing concern for food safety and health, natural, healthy and harmless additives will become the mainstream of the industry.

Strict regulations: Governments are strengthening their regulation of food additives, and companies need to ensure that their products comply with the relevant standards.

Technological innovation: the application of new technologies, processes and materials will greatly enhance the production efficiency and product quality of food additives.

Increased market concentration: With the intensification of market competition and the improvement of regulatory requirements, it is expected that the market concentration will continue to increase in the future.

Clean label: The future development trend of the food additives plant extract industry will closely revolve around the two major themes of clean label and functionalization, reducing the use of synthetic additives and promoting additives of natural origin that are easily accepted by consumers.