N°66 - Ingrédients /Oméga 3 have prevented this change from genera- ahead those of the Europeans (less than ting value gains. $10/year) and the Chinese ($4.3) (Table 4). Most of the other regions (in particular the The consumers in the Asian region spend emerging markets) display both volume significantly less than those in “esta- and value growth. This is a change from blished” markets, such as Europe. But all previous years, when the pressure on price the signs are there for a very rapid growth had impeded the rapid growth in demand of the omega-3 markets in the countries in these countries from generating value in Southeast or South-eastern Asia due gains. to the rise of the middle class. By 2030, Asians will most likely account for 65% of Strong geographical disparities the global middle class (Editor’s note: in 2017, this middle class was estimated at 3 In 2015, the biggest consumers of omega-3 billion) and most (nearly 9 out of 10) of the products were the North Americans, fol- new entrants in this class will live in Asia. lowed by the Japanese and Australians. According to GOED projections, by 2020, Their annual expenditure ($27.6/person/ the per capita consumption in certain year, $20.9 and $16.5 respectively) are far Asian countries will be similar to the levels attained in Europe. VENTILATION IN VOLUME / VALUE BY APPLICATION OF OMEGA-3s The emergence of this middle class is an Volume Valeur important factor for the development of the omega-3 market worldwide. This market could triple if the global consumption levels reached those of Europe. Such is the sce- nario projected by GOED: starting from this assumption - the development of the 088 middle class - sales of omega-3s in China might exceed $18 billion (the equivalent GLOBAL EPA+DHA FINISHED PRODUCTS SALES (MM$) of current cumulative sales in Europe and North America). Let’s go through this sce- nario: in the rest of the Asia-Pacific region (excluding Japan), sales would exceed $3 billion, and in the rest of Asia, they would be of over $7 billion. But it is in the rest of the world that such a scenario takes all its meaning: from close to zero today, it would exceed $30 billion. That is two thirds of the current market... More “convenient” intakes What are the other factors that might contribute to current market growth? In PER CAPITA SPENDING ON OMEGA-3s ($/PERSON) all likelihood, consumers’ changing pre- ferences. Indeed, many of them consider that it is difficult to prepare seafood. As a result, they are looking for easily accessible sources of omega-3. Small-size capsules are such a source. This explains the high demand for concentrated EPA and DHA oils (over 30% content): these latter might account for over a third of food supple- ment formulations and therefore provide over half of the EPA and DHA supplied by food supplements. ■ ■ / Janvier - Février - Mars 2019 / N°66 / L’Actualité des Ingrédients Fonctionnels & Santé