World Enzyme Demand to Reach $8 Billion in 2015

World enzyme demand will rise 6.8 percent per year to $8.0 billion in 2015, reflecting a continued rebound in the world economy from the 2009 global downturn.  Almost all markets will achieve growth rates over five percent per year, with the exception of biofuel production and a few other small industrial enzyme markets.  Reflecting the broad-based nature of the growth, demand will be strong for all enzyme types, especially smaller categories. These and other trends, including market share and product segmentation, are presented in World Enzymes, a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry market research firm.  

From a regional perspective, the fastest increases will be in the smaller markets of Central and South America and the Africa/Mideast region.  The Asia/Pacific region will also undergo a rapid increase in enzyme demand due to strength in China and India.  A moderating trend in the developed economies of North America and Western Europe will lead to healthy, though below-average, growth.  In particular, the pace of North American enzyme demand growth will moderate due to the slow development of biomass-based biofuel production, while enzyme consumption in Western Europe will be restrained by the impact of the European debt crisis.

Through 2015 growth in world enzyme demand will be led by strong gains in diagnostic and research and biotechnology enzymes, both of which will benefit from the sharp drop in DNA sequencing costs over the previous decade.  Additionally, rising diagnostic enzyme demand will be supported by expanded access to medical care in developing countries, and the advent of health care reform in the United States.  On the industrial enzyme side, animal feed and food and beverage enzymes will also experience above-average annual increases in demand. 

Among the other industrial enzyme markets, cleaning products will realize the strongest growth as new enzymes continue to be launched in developed countries, and greater market penetration is achieved in developing countries.  Biofuel production enzyme demand, however, will moderate significantly.  While the increased use of enzymes in biodiesel and sugar cane-based ethanol production will support growth, the lack of new legislative mandates for grain-based ethanol will limit increases in the near term.  Additionally, though the development of second generation biofuels derived from cellulosic raw materials will help sustain demand growth over the long term, a variety of processes -- including some that do not use enzymes -- will be employed, restraining advances. 

The Freedonia Group is a leading international business research company, founded in 1985, that publishes more than 100 industry research studies annually. This industry analysis provides an unbiased outlook and a reliable assessment of an industry and includes product segmentation and demand forecasts, industry trends, demand history, threats and opportunities, competitive strategies, market share determinations and company profiles.