Asia still dominates stevia market

After the European Union approved stevia's use in food and drink, there has been a surge of new product innovations in the region to capitalise on consumer demand. According to latest research by Mintel on natural sweeteners, the widespread rollout of products containing Stevia resulted in a massive 400% increase in launches globally between 2008 and 2012 and 158% between 2011 and 12. Europe is experiencing phenomenal growth now in terms of new product development using stevia. In 2012, it accounted for a quarter (25%) of global new product launches containing stevia, up from just 4% in 2011. However, Asia, accounting for half (50%) of all introductions in 2012, remains the dominant market. But, this market share declined from 63% in 2011. North America, on the other hand, accounted for 15% of new product launches in 2012, down from 21% in 2011, while Latin America accounted for 9% in 2012, down from 11% in 2011.

Recent growth has been fuelled by dynamic product innovation across a range of categories. Some of the most widespread use of stevia is in the non-alcoholic beverages category, which alone accounted for 31% of the global products launched containing stevia in 2012, and the snacks category, accounting for 26%. Meanwhile, 13% of global product launches containing stevia were natural table-top sweetener alternatives to sugar and 7% were dairy products.

Increased concern over obesity levels could also present an opportunity for stevia in low sugar and low calorie food and drinks, as it appears that sugar substitutes are still struggling against traditional sugar, especially when it comes to taste.