Sorbic Acid Demand Has Huge Growth Potential

By Zhang Guihua, Research Institute of PetroChina Jilin Petrochemical Co., Ltd.

Sorbic acid (2,4-hexadienoic acid) is a food preservative with very low toxicity. These days, it is widely acknowledged to be the best food preservative in the world. It widely used in the food processing industry to replace benzoic acid and sodium benzoate in such products as baked foods, candies/cakes, preserved fruits, canned vegetables, fish/meat products, margarine, beverages and wines. Sorbic acid is also used as preservative in medicines, cosmetics and cured tobacco and as an insecticide. In addition, sorbic acid can be used to produce laboratory reagents and be used as an unsaturated acid in resins, flavors and rubbers.

Capacity expands rapidly

Research and production of sorbic acid in China started in the 1950s. Nearly 20 organizations such as Shanghai Reagent General Plant, Guangxi Nanning Second Chemical Plant, Tianjin Shuguang Chemical Plant, Jiangsu Research Institute of Ecomones and Shaanxi Research Institute of Chemical Industry were engaged in its production or in R&D. The capacity for making sorbic acid was only 500 t/a in the 1960s and the output was less than 100 tons, falling far short of the market demand.
The sorbic acid sector in China developed rapidly in the 1970s and the 1980s. The crotonic aldehyde/ethenone condensation process was successfully developed and production units with a capacity of over 100 t/a were constructed. Some scattered and outdated small units were phased out. Pushed by the market demand, production enterprises and research institutes made constant efforts in R&D and technical renovation in the mid and late 1990s. The production technology for sorbic acid in China matured and the production costs were further reduced. Enterprises in China made constant capacity expansions. For example, Guangxi Nanning Second Chemical Plant used  a catalyst developed in house to expand the sorbic acid capacity to 1.1 kt/a. Nantong Acetic Acid Chemical Co., Ltd. increased its sorbic acid capacity to 2.0 kt/a through technical renovation. Ningbo Wanglong Technology Co., Ltd. became a state-class key high-tech enterprise and gained a sorbic acid capacity of 35.0 kt/a and a potassium sorbate capacity of 25.0 kt/a.
At the beginning of the 21st century, quite a few producers started to cooperate with foreign companies. They constructed several large sorbic acid units through introducing technology from abroad or forming joint ventures with foreign companies. For example, in 2001 Jianhu County Yongchang Chemical Co., Ltd. and Premier Chemical Co., Ltd. of the United States established a joint venture named Yancheng Meichang Chemical Co., Ltd. The sorbic acid capacity of the JV was 6.0 kt/a and the potassium sorbate capacity was 4.0 kt/a. Daicel Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd. of Japan made investments in Guangxi Nanning Economic Development Area and established Daicel (Nanning) Food Additive Co., Ltd. The capacity for sorbic acid and potassium sorbate in the company was 4.0 kt/a.
By the end of 2013, there were in China more than a dozen sorbic acid and potassium sorbate producers each with a capacity of over 1.0 kt/a. The total capacity for sorbic acid was over 100.0 kt/a and the total capacity for potassium sorbate was close to 90.0 kt/a. Table 1 shows the sorbic acid producers in China.

China has changed from a net importer to a net exporter

The production scale of sorbic acid in China was small until the end of the 1990s. The capacity was only 500 t/a and the output was less than 100 tons, falling far short of the demand in the development of several sectors – processed foods, medicines, cosmetics, toothpaste, tobacco, rubber, papermaking and animal feed. More had to be imported each year. The import volume was 3.8 kt in 1998, 6.5 kt in 1999 and 6.9 kt in 2000.
In the 21st century, pushed by the progress of production technology and the increase of market demand, the sorbic capacity acid in China has increased rapidly. The total capacity for sorbic acid was already more than 100 kt/a in 2013. Various producers have also improved product quality. Most sorbic acid and potassium sorbate made today has passed checks of the HACCP Standard System, and it conforms to both the FCCIV Standard of the United States and the national standard GB 1905-2000 of China. Sorbic acid and potassium sorbate produced in China have quite high reputations around the world. While meeting the demand in the domestic market, constant expansions of overseas markets are also made. Products are sold to many countries and regions in the world. China has gradually shifted from a net importer to a net exporter. The share held by sorbic acid and potassium sorbate produced in China in overseas markets has already increased to around 70% today. Sorbic acid and potassium sorbate produced in Guangxi Nanning Second Chemical Plant are exported to developed countries such as Spain. “Golden Road” brand sorbic acid and potassium sorbate produced in Yancheng Meichang Chemical Co., Ltd. (taking “APAC” as trademark in the United States) are sold to Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, Europe, the United States, Southeast Asia and Australia. Sorbic acid and potassium sorbate produced in Zhejiang Baosheng Additive Co., Ltd. and Daicel (Nanning) Food Additive Co., Ltd. are sold to more than 30 countries and regions such as Europe, the United States and Southeast Asia. More than 60% of the sorbic acid and potassium sorbate produced by Shandong Ruipu Biochemical Co., Ltd. is exported to Europe, the United States, Japan and South Korea.
The price of sorbic acid in China has increased in waves in recent years. The average price was RMB26 000/t in 2009 and slid slightly to RMB23 000/t in 2010. Stimulated by market demand, the price of sorbic acid went straight up to RMB34 000/t in 2011 and 2012. The average price in 2013 went down to RMB33 000/t at first, but slowly picked up and had reached RMB35 000/t in March 2014.

Strong demand in
downstream sectors

The major food preservative used in China today is sodium benzoate, with more than 10.0 kt consumed each year. Sodium benzoate has quite high toxicity and its use has already been prohibited in some countries and regions. Sorbic acid and potassium sorbate are food preserving and anti-staling agents with broad spectrum, high effect and great safety recommended by FAO and WHO and generally recognized by the international community. With the increasing public awareness of food safety, the use of sorbic acid and potassium sorbate to replace sodium benzoate will become an inevitable development trend in China. If one-third of the sodium benzoate consumption is replaced by sorbic acid, the per-capita annual consumption of sorbic acid would be only around 2 g, being only 1/20 of the per-capita annual consumption in the United States. China has a population of 1.3 billion, constituting an extensive market. It can be expected that with the development of industry and the improvement of the standard of living, domestic demand for sorbic acid increase drastically.
In China, food additives are mainly used in beverages, milk products, soy sauce and prickled products. Soy sauces and prickled products mainly use benzoic preservatives today. According to authoritative analyses, if producers in China were to use sorbic acid as preservative in all their soy sauces, the demand for sorbic acid would be as high as 6.5 kt a year.
The development of beverages and fruit juices in China has been fast for many years. The output of beverages reached as high as 12.5 million tons in 2000. If 20% of beverages incorporated sorbic acid as preservative, the consequent consumption of sorbic acid would be 3.0-5.0 kt a year.
Milk products are already a major sector consuming sorbic acid. Cultured products such as yogurt, in particular, need such food preservative all the more. The contribution of milk products to human health has been increasingly embraced by various circles of society. Milk products have therefore presented an unprecedented trend of rapid development in China. It is expected that both the amount and the type of milk products in China will continue to grow rapidly for a considerable period in the future and the demand for sorbic acid will grow concomitantly.
It was clearly defined in GB 2760-1995 issued in China as early as 1996 that sorbic acid and potassium sorbate could be used in meat, fish, egg and poultry products (0.075 g/kg), grape wines and other fruit wines (0.6g/kg) and soy sauces, table vinegars and cultured milk products (1.0 g/kg). In 2002, the Ministry of Health of China increased the maximum limit of potassium sorbate in meat-stuffed sausages to 1.5 g/kg. Sorbic acid and potassium sorbate therefore became the most commonly-used preservatives to inhibit the bacterial decay of meat products. GB 2760-2007 further broadened the application scope of potassium sorbate and allowed it to be used in margarine and instant noodle products. It can be seen that the application of sorbic acid and potassium sorbate in the food industry will become more and more extensive in China.
Sorbic acid is not only extensively used in the food industry. In the feed processing industry, sorbic acid as a feed additive with high effect and low toxicity can inhibit the growth of molds in feed. It has a high effect, in particular, of inhibiting the formation of aflatoxin. Sorbic acid can therefore be extensively used in the feed processing industry. In the pharmaceutical industry, sorbic acid can be used in the preservation of intravenously administered drugs and nutritive fluids. In the daily chemical industry, sorbic acid can be used in the preservation of facial cosmetics and in the synthesis of detergent additives. In the petrochemical industry, sorbic acid can be used as an intermediate of plasticizers and lubricants and as an additive of adhesives. Sorbic acid can also be used in the production and processing of acids containing polyatomic ions, alkyd resins, artificial flavors, coatings, fibers and plastic/rubber antioxidants. With the constant development of new application sectors, the application prospects of sorbic acid in China will be all the more extensive.