BEIJING, Oct. 20 (Xinhua Silk Road) -- Probiotics are emerging as a new growth driver in China's health consumption market, evolving from niche nutritional supplements into everyday health management products for ordinary consumers.
According to the market research company Euromonitor International, China's probiotic consumption market is projected to exceed 137.7 billion yuan (about 20.6 billion U.S. dollars) in 2026, with an annual growth rate of 11 to 12 percent.
Heavy meals and frequent late nights are the two major consumption scenarios, according to the commercial data platform Meritco Group.
The rapidly expanding market is attracting investment across the industrial chain, covering strain research and development, clinical implementation, formula design, large-scale production of probiotic powder, and the manufacturing of consumer-end nutritional products.
Several A-share listed companies, including Scitop Bio (300858.SZ), Juneyao Grand Healthy Drinks Co., Ltd. (605388.SH) and Inner Mongolia Yili Industrial Group Co., Ltd. (600887.SH), have conducted probiotics-related businesses.
For example, Scitop Bio has invested 1.88 billion yuan (about 281 million U.S. dollars) in a smart probiotic factory, which opened in April this year in Hohhot City, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. In June, Ausnutria Dairy Corporation Ltd. (01717.HK) signed an agreement to develop a high-end probiotic fermentation and smart warehousing project in the Huai'an Economic and Technological Development Zone in east China's Jiangsu Province.
In July, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued draft provisions for public comment, stipulating that probiotic strains submitted for registration or filing must fall within the list of strains for use in general food published by the National Health Commission, with the strain number and stable biological, genetic, and functional traits clearly identified.
Industry experts believe the measure will help build a "strain-to-efficacy" management system and enable full-process strain traceability, thereby raising the entry threshold and fostering the sound development of the industry. (Edited by Su Dan with Xinhua Silk Road, silviasu07@163.com)
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