Trend tracker: China's health foods imports, bone broth in Australia, men's health in focus

China’s health foods imports: Indonesia in the top five exporters as edible bird’s nest popularity spikes​

Indonesia was one of top five health food exporters of health foods to China last year, and has continued to surpass even Japan, with edible bird’s nest making up the bulk of the South East Asian country’s export.

The amount of health foods imported into China was worth US$5.94bn last year, up 14.6 per cent year-on-year. Of which, 20.7 per cent valued at US$1.23bn came from the US, followed by US$820m from Australia, US$580m from Germany, US$450m from Indonesia, and US$310m from Japan.  

This is according to a report published by China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products (CCCMHPIE) together with China's dietary supplement firm BYHEALTH. 

Supply focus: Bone broth concentrate demand outstrips supply in Australia, says Melrose Health​

Melrose Health Group is beefing up the production of its bone broth concentrate as demand outstrips supply in Australia.

The Melbourne-based company acquired bone broth company Best of the Bone in August and is now working on strengthening the supply chain, with plans to co-develop new products further down the road, Nathan Cheong, CEO at Melrose Health Group told NutraIngredients-Asia.​

Cheong said that Best of the Bone has been growing at 40 per cent year-on-year in Australia and the overall bone broth market in Australia, according to his estimates, is around AUD$70m (US$46m) to AUD$100m (US$65.8m).

China Double 11 data: Vitamins, probiotics, lactoferrin sales doubled against backdrop of muted spending​  

Vitamins, probiotics, lactoferrin for infants and toddlers, and over 30 nutrition products saw their transaction value at least doubled in China’s Double 11 shopping festival this year, says JD Health, amid muted consumer spending in the country for the most part of this year.

However, it is difficult to gauge how exactly e-commerce companies have performed in this year’s Double 11. Part of the reason is because they have stopped releasing their gross merchandise value (GMV) figures since last year.

Based on third-party data, the GMV for Double 11 grew only by 2.08 per cent this year, Jason Yu, managing director of Kantar Worldpanel, told us.

Paradigm shift in perception of men’s fitness sparks new opportunities for bone and joint category​

Men are recognising that health and fitness goes beyond having a muscular physique, and are increasingly seeking products that help improve joint mobility, body functionality and overall health, says an industry expert.

Men today are less focused on muscle-building and ripped looks, and more on holistic health that encompasses not only physical fitness, but also mental well-being, said Sandeep Gupta, founder and CEO of Expert Nutraceutical Advocacy Council (ENAC) India, at Growth Asia Summit 2023.

“Men are now paying more attention to parameters such as strength, stamina, muscle endurance, immunity, and bone and joint health. Especially after the pandemic, they are making better-informed choices and taking part in physical activities ranging from yoga to virtual sports,” ​he said. 

Beauty-from-within space sees higher demand for multi-benefit products spanning gut and mental support – expert panel​  

Asia-Pacific’s beauty-from-within category is seeing rising demand for products that address not only beauty concerns, but also those that provide multiple benefits spanning gut health and mental support, says a panel involving experts from Haleon, Blackmores, Renovatio, and more.

The panel was speaking at the Beauty-from-within APAC 2023 Interactive Broadcast organised by NutraIngredients-Asia ​and CosmeticsDesign-Asia ​on November 2.

Kickstarting the discussion, Deepapriya Velumani, NPD brand lead, Wellness at Haleon, said that post-COVID, intrinsic health and wellbeing have become more important than achieving just external beauty alone.