As revealed by our media, the planting area of ginger nationwide in 2014 totals around 5 million mu, with an annual yield of 18m ton, Shandong accounting for nearly a third of all.
To date, ginger has become the pillar industry for agricultural development in many areas, mainly distributed in Shandong, Anhui, and Yunnan. It has had a great fluctuation in recent years. Between 2011 and 2012, the price of ginger was limited to weaken the initiatives of farmers. Affected by the toxic ginger event and draught in 2013, the overall yield of ginger declined by 30%, with the price up by as many as 5 times. This high price lasted until the new ginger presence the next year. While the planting area for ginger was enlarged in 2014, the price for new output dumped by 40% to 50% in October.
Ginger extract originated from the food ingredient ginger, which has been on the food market for hundreds of years in China and other Asian countries. The unique function of warming the middle and regulating the qi of ginger can help promote health when added to relevant products. Ginger extract is developed and applied worldwide in recent years. In 2014 particularly, the presence in the end market was quite obvious. As observed by our media, countries such as the UK, Germany, France, Ireland, Japan, US, and Australia have all unveiled new products of ginger extract to be used respectively in sweet food, yogurt, nutrition bar, beer, chocolate, fish product, ice cream, grain product, chips and candy fields. There is a limited number of producers and suppliers of ginger extract in China, mainly presenting ginger extract powder, ginger oil, and ginger oleoresin. It’s also the hot spot in markets represented by the US according to the monitoring. the annual demand for ginger extract (including ginger oil and ginger extract powder) by the global market is at least 100t, mainly for the international market, the market demand in 2014 showed an apparent increase, mainly in Europe, US, and Australia, the usage specification in food and health-care fields mainly 5%, 6%, and 10%. The annual price trend of ginger extract (powder) is relatively steady. Another mainstream demand for ginger extract is ginger oil and ginger oleoresin. ginger oil can be used in the blending of edible fragrances. With delighting fragrance, it can be used in the flavor blending of cooked meat products, instant food, puffed food, and baked food, as well as beverages and beer (either ginger essential oil or ginger oleoresin). When used in the daily chemical field, such as makeup, its fragrance ingredient and type are of the high value of development, especially suitable for men’s perfume. Besides, it can be used in SPA, aromatherapy, shampoo, and fancy soap. The ginger oleoresin is valuable in terms of medicine and health care, cold and humidity removal, wind removing and pain killing, vessel warming and meridian smoothing, and motion sickness prevention. Furthermore, ginger oil is good for aging resistance.
As more functions are discovered, ginger extracts are recognized by more consumers to embrace an increasing market demand, it can be predicted the end market for ginger extract will still be limelight in the coming year. The ginger extract is basically compounded with other natural extracts to meet the taste of consumers in the end food, dietary supplements, and other snacks field.
