Infant Food Ingredients Market Size, Share and Global Trend By Type (Dairy-based Ingredients, Cereals-based Ingredients), Form (Dried Baby Food Ingredients, Prepared Baby Food Ingredients) and Regional Forecast, 2024-2032

The Infant Food Ingredients primarily cater to the nutritional requirement of infants aged between 0-3 years as a substitute for human breast milk by closely replicating the nutritional composition of breast milk. The steady growth of urbanization in the developing economies has improved the spending patterns of middle-class households; this trend along with the favorable birth rates has been propelling the infant food ingredients sales.

Infant Food Ingredients Market has been gaining momentum, more strongly from the last decade amid a growing number of women joining the workforce, rising concerns for nutrition deficiencies among infants, and the overall growth in organized retailing. The increase in discretionary spending patterns especially from the emerging economies and the growing focus of the governments and regulatory authorities towards infant health and well-being has further fueled the market.

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Millennial parents have become increasingly conscious about the daily nutritional needs of a baby. Parents have also realized the requirements of external nutritional inputs that facilitate the development of bones, nervous system, and overall immune system. The awareness level of parents has positively affected the sales performance of infant food ingredients. There has been an increase in the reported incidents of mothers unable to produce breast milk; such instances have necessitated the demand of infant-milk substitutes.

KEY PLAYERS COVERED

Some of the key companies that are present in the global infant food ingredients market are Arla Foods amba, Glanbia plc, Carbery Food Ingredients Limited, Limagrain Céréales Ingrédients, Cargill, Synutra, Fonterra Co-operative Group Ltd., and Groupe Lactalis S.A. The certified and recognizable ingredients are expected to fetch sustainable sales growth during the forecast period.

SEGMENTATION

Dairy-based ingredients are leading and dominating owing to their superior nutritional profile, their compositional similarity and robust demand scenario in the global marketplace. Skimmed milk powder is the leading dairy ingredient utilized in infant formula in terms of volume. Moreover, dairy-based ingredients such as lactose, whey, etc. are recognized and preferred by Generation X and Millennial mothers. The associated health benefits of clinically documented dairy-based ingredients are acknowledged widely among the parents.

Cereal-based ingredients are also gaining prominence in follow-on infant formula with the fortification of oligosaccharides, nucleotides, proteins, and peptides that enhances the overall nutritional profile of the end-product. The trend of functional ingredients and healthy fats industry-wide is also boosting the sales of these ingredients. The addition of prebiotics to infant foods has also gained momentum owing to the reproduction of the Bifidus factor and the profound benefit on the overall gut-health of infants.

REGIONAL ANALYSIS

The Asia Pacific led by China has emerged as the fastest-growing regional market for infant food ingredients. The improvement in the retail landscape, greater availability of infant formulae, urbanization, and abandonment of the one-child policy are some of the driving factors in the Chinese marketplace. Western Europe is another leading market with countries such as France, the U.K., Spain, Germany, and Italy are projected to propel the sales-growth of infant food ingredients in the foreseeable future.    

Ingredient-level value-addition has emerged as a strong trend among infant food ingredients manufacturers. The developed markets of Europe and North America has witnessed robust inclination towards high-quality, minimally-processed and organic offerings; this has prompted processors to widen their portfolio with the inclusion of such ingredients. The purchasing patterns in these developed markets have highlighted the strong priority of quality overprice; this has also nudged manufacturers to include specialized ingredients that mirror the nutritional composition of breast milk.

KEY INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS

• In January 2019, Arla Foods Ingredients launched an optimized comfort concept for infant formula containing alpha-lactalbumin, which is the most abundant protein in human milk. The new optimized comfort, low protein formula concept incorporates Lacprodan® ALPHA-10, a whey protein concentrates with a minimum level of 41% alpha-lactalbumin as a proportion of total protein content; and Lacprodan IF-3070, a partially hydrolyzed whey protein (DH 9-15) with a mixture of small and larger peptides.


• In July 2018, BASF joined the list of suppliers including FrieslandCampina DOMO, Jennewein and DuPont in accelerating the launch of human milk oligosaccharide (HMO). The purported benefits of 2-fucosyllactose (2-FL) to infant gut microbiota and immune development has piqued the interest of infant formula manufacturers, who have moved to develop this ingredient for impending product launches.