Global Carotenoids Market to Reach $2.0 Billion by 2022

Carotenoids are chemical compounds produced by nature that have a physiological importance to the plants that produce them. Originally, carotenoids were used and commercialized as colors. Over the past decade, a better understanding of the function of carotenoids in living organisms has emerged, leading to their use as a nutritional additive with a more or less strong health claim. Carotenoids are used as coloring components in foods and feeds, occasionally in cosmetic products, and as physiologically active ingredients in nutritional supplements.

This report is an update of a 2015 BCC Research study. Although no new types of carotenoids have come on the market in the past two years and no fundamentally new manufacturing technology has been introduced, prices have changed significantly for a number of products and segments.

• Food was the carotenoid application with the highest market value (over $676.3 million) in 2016.
• Europe had the highest market value in 2016 ($465.5 million), followed by North America at $370.5 million and Asia at $322.7 million.
• Capsanthin had the largest market of any carotenoid in 2016 ($285.0 million) but is expected to drop behind market leader astaxanthin by 2022.

“While many types of carotenoids occur in nature, only 10 are used commercially: annatto, astaxanthin, beta-carotene, beta-apo-8-carotenal and its ester, canthaxanthin, lutein and its isomer zeaxanthin, lycopene and capsanthin/paprika. These products are either derived from botanical material or produced by fermentation or chemical synthesis,” said BCC Research analyst Andrew McWilliams, who authored the report.