World Enzymes Market to Reach $7 Billion in 2013

The world market for enzymes is expected to recover from a difficult 2009 to reach $7 billion in 2013.  Continued strong demand for specialty enzymes, as well as above-average growth in the animal feed and ethanol production markets, will drive advances.  Reflecting the above-average growth in specialty enzymes, polymerases and nucleases, along with various other enzyme types, will outpace the more industrially concentrated lipases, carbohydrases and proteases.  From a regional perspective, the developed economies of North America and Western Europe will achieve healthy gains, while the fastest growth will continue to come from the more rapidly developing economies of the Asia and the Africa/Mideast regions, Latin America and Eastern Europe. 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 research firm.

Through 2013 world enzyme demand will average annual increases of 6.3 percent, led by pharmaceutical and biocatalyst enzymes, both of which will be less susceptible to the effects of lowered global economic activity.  Diagnostics enzyme demand will also fare well due to expanded access to medical care in developing countries, and the advent of health care reform in the United States.  With pharmaceutical companies having difficulty bringing new small-molecule drugs to market, biotechnology will continue to gain in importance, helping to sustain demand for research and biotechnology enzymes.

Among the industrial enzyme markets, animal feed and ethanol production will both achieve above-average advances, while the food and beverage market will grow at a slower, but healthy pace.  Animal feed enzymes will achieve their fastest growth in developing markets where rising per capita incomes will continue to increase demand for meat in the local diets.  Demand for ethanol production enzymes, however, will slow from the torrid 2003 - 2008 pace as countries re-evaluate the use of food-derived raw materials for ethanol production.  While the development of second generation biofuels derived from cellulosic raw materials will help sustain demand growth, 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.