Plant extracts are based on plants as raw materials, according to the need for the use of the extracted final product, Through the physical and chemical extraction separation process, directional acquisition and concentration of one or more effective components in plants, without changing its effective structure and the formation of products. Plant extracts are important components of biomedicine.
Plant extract is a new industry, although some countries in Europe began to produce and use plant extract at the beginning of the nineteenth century, but at that time it was just a bud, not a scale, not to mention constitute an industry. It was not until the early 1880s that there was a worldwide frenzy of “going back to nature,” when people felt the negative effects of synthetic drugs and felt a sense of security towards natural Chinese herbs. As a result, the development of plant extracts is so rapid and unstoppable that Germany, Britain, the United States, Italy and other countries begin to produce Chinese herbal extracts and use them in health food. Different countries have different definitions of plant extracts, but despite the shortcomings of traditional medicine and differences in cultural background, as a component of Chinese herbal medicine, plant extracts have been generally accepted in western society due to the known and quantifiable part of its active ingredients.
But it wasn’t until 1994 in the United States that the plant extracts industry really took off. DSHEA（Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994） After the release, the FDA officially accepted plant extracts as a food supplement (A Dietary Supplement), making the development of plant extracts to truly upgrade. In recent years, worldwide, with the increase of global recognition of plant extract, plant extract industry scale rapid growth, especially in Europe and the United States and other developed countries and regions, the demand for plant extract stable growth, greatly stimulating the development of the industry. From 2016 to 2017, the global market size of plant extract industry is increasing. In 2017, global plant extract sales reached US $38.95 billion, an increase of 16.97% year on year, with an average annual growth rate of 12.5%.
On an increasingly large scale, we can see the current global application structure of plant extracts, Nutritional health food has become the largest demand market for plant extracts, accounting for 45% in 2017, followed by herbal preparations with 26% and cosmetics with 12%. In major Western consumer markets, particularly the European market, plant extracts are the main raw material for botanical medicinal preparations. In North America, Japan, it is mainly used in nutritional supplements, health food, cosmetics and other industries, is the core of natural health products market products.
In addition to nutrition and health food, plant medicine has become more popular among consumers in many countries, but the consumption of plant medicine is different in different countries and regions. Globally, natural medicines are mainly concentrated in Asia, Europe and the United States. Multi-channel information shows that the increasing demand for natural drugs in western countries is an important factor driving the rapid rise of natural drugs market.
Since 1997, the size of the global herbal medicine market in recent years, many countries are showing a rising trend. Among them, Germany has the largest scale, which has reached about 51.9 billion US dollars in 2017. The corresponding German plant extract market has developed rapidly, and has surpassed the United States. At present, the sales of plant extract in Germany account for at least 22.68% of the world’s total. Followed by Japan, the size in 2017 has reached 32.6 billion US dollars, making its global market share of plant extracts at least 19.75%; And China’s rapid development in recent years, the global position is also increasingly important, in 2017, the herbal medicine market also reached 23.4 billion US dollars, China plant extracts industry accounted for at least 7.16%.
Against the backdrop of growing demand for plant extracts in nutritional supplements and health foods, and growing global herbal market size, the global plant extracts market continues to rise, with Asia and Europe dominating.
China is one of the major exporters of Chinese herbal medicines in the world, and plant extracts account for more than half of the total exports. From 2013 to 2015, the export value of Chinese plant extracts increased year by year, but in 2016, with the industry entering the adjustment period, export value dropped. In 2016, China’s exports of plant extracts reached US $1.93 billion, down 10.93%, accounting for 56% of total TCM exports. From January to April 2017, exports of plant extracts were $650 million, down 12.38% year on year, and the downward trend continues.
Recently, the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Products announced the top ten export varieties of plant extracts in China in the past five years. Compared with previous years, this year’s top 10 varieties have a certain change. In general, the export of plant extracts used as flavor, sweetener and pigment in food and beverage is more and more obvious, but the export of plant extracts for health care is less.