"China's sugar alcohol production started in 1960s and developed very slowly in the first 30 years, with its total output less than 10 tonnes in 1990s. Luckily, it has enjoyed remarkable growth since then thanks to the application of advanced production technologies and accumulation of management experience.
At present, there are mainly five sugar alcohols produced in China, namely sorbitol, maltitol, xylitol, mannitol and erythritol, with their total output surpassed one million tonnes annually. Sorbitol is the largest branch among them, with its market share over 80%. Maltitol and xylitol rank 2nd and 3rd respectively by output.
All of these sugar alcohols can be used as food additives in varieties of foods along with the emergence of the concept of sugar-free or low-sugar. Besides, rising awareness of healthy diet pushes up consumption of sugar alcohols in food industry greatly, which has also been the major driving force for the growth of sugar alcohols during the past few years. Consumption of sugar alcohols in food industry is estimated to remain at a high level.
Although consumption growth of sugar alcohols in pharmaceutical, especially vitamin C and household chemicals has been inconspicuous in the past five years and their market shares have been declining, they are still the largest two consumption sectors of sugar alcohols.
In order to figure out the situation of China's sugar alcohol industry at present and the changes happened in the past few years, CCM made great efforts in:
Details about production and consumption of each major sugar alcohol from 2008-2012;
Import/export analysis of major sugar alcohols;
Major influencing factor;
Consumption pattern of sugar alcohols by downstream industries;
Forecasts on the supply-demand balance in the next five years."