Strong sales growth coupled with consumer interest is fueling growth projections.
The area of probiotics has been an area of high interest, with strong market status and future growth projection. Constantly improving scientific insights into the mechanisms at work in the gut, as well as the complex interactions between the digestive system, the microbiome and other health outcomes are opening up further opportunities for the established probiotic and the evolving prebiotic sector.
In recent years, the supplements market has successfully capitalised on the growth in knowledge of probiotics and growing consumer interest. We have seen specific supplements as well as food and drinks products move into this digestive space with greater speed. But to date, the very limited scope for specific health claims, certainly in Europe, has played part in restricting market growth across both supplement and functional food sectors.
Nonetheless, the global probiotics market is an area of fast growth and countless opportunities for innovation—for both consumer brands as well as ingredient suppliers.
According to the International Probiotics Association (IPA) the total global retail value of prebiotic sales rose from $38 billion in 2013 to $44.8 billion in 2019, with 13% ($5.8 bn) from supplement sales. The US is still the largest single market with $2.25 billion, followed by Italy with $680 million and China with $620 million in supplement sales.
A report from Transparency Market Research valued the probiotics segment in 2018 at $6.76 billion and forecast CAGR of 8.3% to hit $12.75 billion by the end of 2026. As other market research organisations point out, valuing any market where substantial sales are made through online channels can be tricky.
However, underlying attitudes certainly seem to be evolving. Consumer awareness of gut health is growing, particularly among adults in their 20s and 30s, according to Mintel. It reports that, in the United Kingdom (UK), 64% of adults overall agree that actively looking after their gut health is important in supporting wellbeing. This proportion rises to 72% in the 25-to-34 age group. This is supported by an IPA report that suggests over 10 million adults in the EU are probiotic users, and more than 350 million adults consume them regularly in the APAC region.
Asia Pacific is expected to be both the largest and the fastest growing regional segment by 2025. According to Grand View Research, “new prebiotic launches, innovations in delivery systems and the presence of key players have laid the foundation for a healthy and strong growth of the region.” The rise in disposable income and the increase in demand for nutritional food products, along with the growing technology base further enhance the rising demand for probiotics in the region.
Mintel notes the significant gap between consumers appreciating the importance of gut health and those taking supplements to support it. “People are looking to food and drink for this benefit, fuelling the explosion in fermented products such as kefir and kombucha, while the vitamins and supplements market is failing to capitalise on this trend to the same extent,” Clifford says.
UK dairy brand The Collective underlines how kefir has been outperforming the wider Active Health Drinks (AHD) category, of which it is a part.
It quotes IRI (market research company) figures suggesting that, while AHD as a whole (said to be worth just over £200 million) grew by only £2.12 million (1.1%) in the year to January 2020, kefir drinks alone added £5.5 million growth to the category. The Collective efir grew by a healthy 97.1% over the same period, it says, while bigger AHD brands, such as Actimel and Benecol, are losing market share.
