Home > Food & Beverages > Caramel Ingredient Market
Global Caramel Ingredient Market size is likely to witness exponential growth during the forecast period. Caramel is a confectionery product used for flavoring, topping and filling in variety of foods and beverages. It is produced by heating sugar at pre-determined temperature. The product is available in several forms, types and employed over different range of food and beverage products.
The caramel ingredient market is mainly driven by increasing demand for bakery and beverage products owing to the changing consumer preferences for food and lifestyle, which is expected to increase the product demand across the globe.
Growth in per capita income and increasing adoption of urban lifestyle are factors that are driving the food & beverage industry globally. This has come through inclining customer food habits towards ready-to-eat and frozen bakery products over conventional slow cook products. This trend in food & beverage industry is likely to boost the caramel ingredient market size over the forecast period.
Prominent growth is also being observed in beverage industry, which includes both, alcoholic and non-alcoholic products. Product types such as caramelized sugar syrups and powdered & liquid caramel colors are used in producing alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages such as lemonade, tea, fruit drinks, beer, powdered drink mixes, etc. This huge product demand in beverage industry shall positively influence caramel ingredient market growth over the forecast period.
The major hurdle in caramel ingredient market size is constantly rising raw material prices, which is subsequently leading to price rise of the product. Furthermore, shift in the eating habits of consumers to healthier products, minimalizing the use of confectionery products in their daily routine is a potential threat to product demand in the future.
Based on the form of product, caramel ingredient market is classified into solid, powder/granular and liquid. Amongst all, liquid caramel led the overall caramel ingredient market share in 2016 due to its intensive usage in beverage industry. The powder/granular segment is likely to witness prominent gains over the forecast period as powder caramel has a better shelf life and is extensively used in bakery and packaged food products.
Based on product, caramel ingredient market is segmented into colors, topping, flavor, fillings and others. In 2016, the colors segment held a major chunk of caramel ingredient market followed by flavors segment. Caramel color ingredients are majorly consumed in food coloring and is essentially required across food & beverage industry. The toppings segment is expected to be the fastest growing caramel ingredient market. This can be attributed to the growing consumer preference for dining out, which in turn, is driving the need for food decoration (intended to make it more appealing) and eventually boosting product demand.
The prominent industries where the product has vital applications are beverage (alcoholic & non-alcoholic), confectionary, bakery and ice-cream & desserts. Other applications of caramel ingredient include sauces, malted food, breakfast cereals, etc. Among these, confectionery application led the caramel ingredient market, followed by beverages in 2016. The ice-cream & desserts demand is expected to witness rise due to continuous product innovation with new flavors fueled by changing consumer food preferences.
North America was major consumer of the caramel ingredient market in 2016 while Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region for the caramel ingredient market. The heavy consumption of the product in North America is due to the increasing popularity of frozen and packaged food (especially, bakery products and desserts) among consumers. Eastern followed North America in terms of volume of product consumption. Asia Pacific is likely to witness huge investments flowing in from some of the major market share contributors in the coming years due to availability of labor and raw material at lower costs. In addition, rising consumer awareness about advantages of fresh/natural label flavors and colors in Asian countries may offer growth opportunities to product manufacturers.
The prominent players operating in the caramel ingredient market share are Cargill Inc., Kerry Group PLC, Ferrero, DDW The Color House, Sensient Technologies Corporation, Göteborgsfood Budapest Limited and Sethness Caramel Color, Puratos Group, Nestle, Mars Inc., Metarom, Nigay, Bakels Worldwide and Martin Braun KG. The major companies of the caramel ingredient market are primarily focusing on new launch, expansion and development of assortments in the product range.