CoQ10 market expected to grow at 9.5% clip through 2024
Grand View put the supply end of the market at 752 tons in 2015. This is projected to grow to 1,695 tons by 2024, with a CAGR of 9.5% in that period. Those expectations were in line with what the CoQ10 Association has foreseen, at least in terms of the raw material demand. But Scott Steinford, president of the association, said that the retail value of the market might in fact be far higher.
“We currently place the CoQ10 ingredient market at approximately 700Mts and $250 million. This would likely reach a $1 billion retail level today so $1.36 billion retail in 8 years is possibly conservative,” he said.
The report says the key drivers of CoQ10 growth will be the ingredient’s close tie-ins with certain conditions. CoQ10 is manufactured in the body and is vital in the cell’s energy production machinery. CoQ10 is naturally present in small amounts in a wide variety of foods, but levels are particularly high in organ meats such as heart, liver, and kidney, as well as beef, soy oil, sardines, mackerel, and peanuts.
Aging populations provide a boost
Nevertheless, it’s hard to get enough CoQ10 in the diet when depletion occurs. Levels of CoQ10 have been shown to decline with age and in particular with statin use, which can account for some of the muscular pain and weakness that some users experience as a side effect of the drugs. CoQ10 also functions as an antioxidant, which along with its energy production bona fides would seem to make it a natural in sports nutrition formulations.
The report foresees the aging populations in the United States and Japan, the two biggest markets currently for the ingredient, as key factors in the increasing demand for the ingredient. The US currently accounts for 45% of global consumption and Japan for another 20%.
This demographic bulge, seen most prominently in the developed world where birthrates have been falling for more than a generation, will also be a huge factor in China, where the demographic bill of that country’s decades-old one-child policy is starting to come due. This will boost CoQ10 demand not only because of the rising incidence of heart disease and thus statin use among these populations but also because of another application of CoQ10, for skin health. This has been mostly demonstrated in topical cosmetic preparations, Steinford said.
“The beauty from within aspect of CoQ10 has limited science supporting the concept. CoQ10 has been clinically demonstrated to be an effective topical application but more research is required to significantly support the link between CoQ10 ingestion and improved skin health,” Steinford said.
China dominates the supply end of the CoQ10 market. Five of the top six suppliers are Chinese, with Japanese company Kaneka Nutrients being the lone outlier. Steinford put the largest suppliers in this order: Xiamen Kingdomway, Shenzhou Bio, ZMC, NHU, Kaneka and Livzon.
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