Fish oils have good future, suggests recent supplier expansions
Biocare have completed expansion of their production facilities to
meet continuing demand for omega-3 fatty acids in supplements and
functional foods.
Both companies were underlining their increased capacity at the health products tradeshow Vitafoods last week, with Pronova devoting a supplier seminar to the topic, although neither has revealed current or expected output at new production facilities.
Norway's Pronova Biocare has reportedly invested more than €6 million in expansion of omega-3 production to boost output potential 'several times' that of last year's production capacity while Croda's new plant in the UK has 'more than doubled manufacturing capacity'.
Also in the top three global fish oil concentrate suppliers, Canada-based Ocean Nutrition recently unveiled plans for a four-fold increase in production of omega-3 fish oil concentrates, at a cost of $10 million, that it claims will make it the world's largest producer.
While market shares held by the three firms remain unclear, the major expansion in capacity underlines the strong projected growth for marine oils, which as yet remain unthreatened by new sources of omega-3 fats.
A new report on nutritional oils from market research firm Frost & Sullivan reveals that Europe's omega-3 market is worth $195 million in 2004, with marine oils accounting for 77 per cent of this total. Algae oils have a 19 per cent share while flax-derived omega-3 has 4 per cent of sales.
Frost also predicts growth of 8 per cent in the European omega-3 market, over their forecast period to 2010, a figure confirmed by the considerable investment of the leading oil concentrate producers.
Dr Keith Layden, managing director at Croda Health and Personal Care, said the firm's new plant, which is coming on stream this month, "forms the first phase of our expansion programme and further investment is planned to support continuing market demand for our high purity lipids".
Claire Packer, marketing manager for Health Care at Croda, told NutraIngredients.com: "We've had growing pressure over the last few years and demand has outstripped supply. We're expecting growth to continue at the same rate over coming years."
She cited growing consumer media attention to the health benefits of omega-3 fatty acids as a major driver of growth. New trials continue to confirm the benefits of omega-3 fatty acids particularly on heart health, but also on mental health with some research to suggest fish oils may have a role in slowing Alzheimer's and preventing depression.
There has also been some investigation into the role of omega-3 fats in metabolism, with trials showing they could protect against diabetes, growing in incidence around the world.
Fish oil concentrate producers are likely to benefit from the increasing trend towards high concentration and purity of oils. The Frost report also suggests that the potential for marine concentrates in pharmaceutical applications 'looks particularly promising'.
And the recent introduction into Europe of microalgae-derived DHA, a vegetarian source of omega-3s, does not appear to worry the leading concentrate suppliers. The products are significantly more expensive and only offer one of the fatty acids, notes Packer.
Fish oils could be playing a part in good performance at Croda, a chemicals firm that has increased its share of sales to the personal and healthcare sectors from 30 per cent in 1998 to 58 per cent last year. A recent trading statement from Croda cited 'strong demand for our speciality ingredients globally' and first quarter sales from continuing operations up by 6 per cent in constant currency terms.
Profit before tax from continuing operations in sterling is up by 10 per cent on the same period last year although the weak dollar is likely to hit its yearly earnings.
