Last week’s big news included efforts by U.S. dietary supplement trade associations to exclude dietary supplements and their ingredients from pharma-related tariffs, the surge in global fish oil production and Doctor’s Best’s new product strategies for China.
USA: Supplement industry calls for pharmaceutical tariff exemption
Dietary supplement trade associations urged the U.S. Department of Commerce to exclude dietary supplements and their ingredients from any tariffs that may arise from a national security investigation into pharmaceutical imports.
The department’s inquiry—launched April 1 through its Bureau of Industry and Security under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962—is focused on whether imports including finished and generic drug products, medical countermeasures and critical inputs like active pharmaceutical ingredients pose a risk to national security.
The 232 Docket for pharmaceuticals closed to comments on May 7 with some 240 submissions, including those from supplement industry representatives. President Trump indicated that he would issue a pronouncement on pharmaceutical tariffs in the next two weeks.
While there was initial reassurance that some supplement products would be safe from the sweeping reciprocal tariffs under Annex II exemptions announced for pharmaceuticals on April 2, trade groups are now concerned that they will be swept up in the investigation and are working hard to distinguish supplement from pharmaceutical.
“The only common element between the nutrients and a number of these active pharmaceutical ingredients is they’re chemicals, and that’s where it ends,” Loren Israelsen, founder and president of the United Natural Products Alliance, told NutraIngredients.
“Nutrients are entirely different with respect to intended use, entirely different in their economics, entirely different in their public health need and use, and should be entirely different in their tariff policy treatment.”
Global fish oil production surge
The production of fish oil rose 34% globally in the first three months of 2025 year on year, according to data provided by marine ingredients organization IFFO.
Countries including Chile, the United States, Spain and several African nations saw increases in production, but fish oil production from European waters decreased.
This increased production of fish oil is likely to affect global pricing. According to Dr. Enrico Bachis, market research director at IFFO, based on past patterns and market economics, sellers tend to have more power than buyers due to the demand. This then means that if supply drops, prices may go up quickly and vice versa.
Pricing is also in part determined by South America due to output, as well as the percentage of fat in Peru’s fish oil, which is currently reported as average (around 3%).
Dr. Bachis explained that European countries did not contribute to the positive trajectory due to the variation in waters and species being affected by different biological patterns and environmental challenges.
“Compared to Peru, where there is one huge fishery targeted for fishmeal and fish oil, Europe works with many different species, often primarily targeted for direct human consumption,” he said.
“The variety of species involved and the higher dependence on by-products proceeding from processing plants makes the European context exposed to bigger challenges, both on the natural and market fronts.”
China: Doctor’s Best’s new product strategies for 2025
Doctor’s Best, the U.S. subsidiary of China biotech firm Kingdomway, is expanding its portfolio of anti-aging and liver care products in China this year.
Some of these new launches would include NMN, liver care tablets and ergothioneine, which has become highly popular in China in the last couple years. There are currently no ergothioneine products in the Doctor’s Best line-up either in the United States or China. However, the brand already has NMN and liver detox products in its range.
Kingdomway outlined its plans for Doctor’s Best’s new product launches when announcing its FY24 financial results.
On top of the new launches, Kingdomway pointed out that it would be strengthening its strategies for e-commerce as well as “interest-based e-commerce.”
The company said it would build an entire network of digital marketing matrix for the launch of its innovative ergothioneine product.
“Xiaohongshu (Red), Douyin and other core social media platforms are the strategic pillars, as well as key opinion leaders (KOL), key opinion consumers (KOC) and multi-dimensional strategies such as contextual content marketing and precision consumer targeting,” the company shared.
