Middle East and Africa Natural Sweeteners Market Report And Forecast 2024-2032

Middle East and Africa Natural Sweeteners Market Outlook

The Middle East and Africa natural sweeteners market attained a value of approximately USD 119.13 million in 2023. The market is further expected to grow at a CAGR of around 8.30% in the forecast period of 2024-2032, reaching a value of around USD 246.24 million by 2032.

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The rise in the industry was propelled by the increasing sales of zero calories food and beverage items devoid of artificial sweeteners. These items witnessed a growth of 16% in 2017, as compared to 2016.  The market in the Middle East and Africa is being driven by the growing concerns about health with increasing incidences of obesity.

Globally, stevia is emerging as one of the most popular natural sweeteners available in the market. In 2018, the production value of stevia was worth USD 480 million, with its demand being nearly 3.5 thousand tons that year. While Asia Pacific and Europe are the leading markets for natural sweeteners accounting for almost 50% of the market share, the Middle East and Africa region is also a significant emerging market for natural sweeteners.

Innovations in the alternative sweeteners industry is adding to the market growth of natural sweeteners globally. While natural sweeteners like stevia find their foremost use in the food and beverages sector, the pharmaceutical sector is also expected to emerge as a leading application sector in the forecast period of 2024-2032. Stevia, especially, is finding uses in the home and personal care segment along with being used in toothpastes and supplements.

Properties and Applications

Sweeteners are used to increase the sweetness of food products to which they are added. Usually used in table-top sweeteners, ready to be consumed, they can either be natural or artificial. They can also contain nutrients or be devoid of them.  On the basis of their sweetness as compared to sucrose, they are divided into high intensity and low-intensity sweeteners.

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The natural sweeteners types are:

• Stevia
• Maple Syrup
• Raw Honey
• Molasses
• Coconut Sugar
• Others

The leading application sectors for natural sweeteners are:

• Food
• Beverages
• Pharmaceuticals 
• Personal Care
• Others

Food and beverage sectors dominate the industry in terms of the use of natural sweeteners in products such as baked goods, canned foods, soft drinks, powdered drink mixes, jams, candy, puddings, and other food products. The leading distribution channels for natural sweeteners are hypermarkets/supermarkets, convenience stores, retail stores, and online retailers, among others. The report also looks in-depth into the major regional markets in the Middle East and Africa like South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, Egypt, and UAE, among others.

Market Analysis

Rising concerns related to health and a growing awareness about the detrimental effects of sugar are driving the growth of the global natural sweeteners market. With a rising number of people afflicted with obesity and diabetes, health regulatory authorities are seeking to curb excess sugar and calorie intake through taxations, pack labelling, and other schemes. This, in turn, has provided an upward push to the global natural sweeteners industry.

With consumers becoming increasingly apprehensive about artificial sugar alternatives, the market for natural sweeteners is finding further impetus for its growth. Major companies are looking to invest in sweeteners that are natural and are able to replace sugar in all aspects including its properties which add to the texture, bulk, colour, and shelf life of products.

The Middle East and Africa, the industry is being propelled by the rising demand for low-calorie alternatives to sugar to tackle the obesity problem.  Almost 27% to 40% of the population in countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the UAE are suffering from obesity. With increasing awareness of the ill-effects of obesity on health, the consumers in the Middle East and Africa region are seeking natural and low-calorie products, thus, driving the natural sweetener industry in the area. The growing populations combined with rising purchasing power is also aiding the natural sweetener industry in the region. Egypt and South Africa are the major producers of natural sweeteners in the region.

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Stevia is a leading natural sweetener in the global as well as the Middle East and Africa market. In 2016, the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) Standardization Organization (GSO), finalised its regulations on the application of steviol glycosides in food and beverage segments like breakfast cereals, non-alcoholic drinks, bakery products, canned and bottled fruit, jams, marmalades, confectionary, and nectars, among others. This has aided the industry growth of stevia in the region with companies undertaking various initiative to develop new products containing stevia.

Competitive Landscape

• In 2018, Tate & Lyle in partnership with Sweet Green Fields, a leading private, fully integrated global stevia ingredient company, introduced two new zero-calorie sweeteners extracted from stevia at Health Ingredients Europe.
• Cargill started producing EverSweet™ in 2018, a next-generation no-calorie sweetener derived from Reb M and Red D, two of the compounds found in stevia with a superior taste.

The report presents a detailed analysis of the following key players covering their capacities, market share and latest turn of events such as mergers and acquisitions, capacity expansions and plant turnarounds in the Middle East and Africa sweeteners market:

• PureCircle
• Ingredion Incorporated
• Cargill, Incorporated
• Tate & Lyle PLC
• Archer Daniels Midland Company
• Tereos S.C.A.
• Wilmar Sugar Pty Ltd.
• Ingredion South Africa (PTY) 
• Others

Further, the report sheds light on the macro and micro aspects of the industry performance, recent trends, major challenges, and key drivers. SWOT analysis, value chain analysis and Porter’s five forces analysis of the market have been carried out. Manufacturing and processing requirements, cost of the project, project funding, returns on investment and expected profit margins have also been estimated.

Key Highlights of the Report