Caffeine: Growing Demand for Natural Products

By Zhang Lun

Restructuring gets results

The growth of caffeine production in China really took off in the 1990s, and in the new century output growth has not slacked off. Capacity now exceeds 30 kt/a, and output is around 19 kt a year.
A constant decline of market prices has become a challenge for operations managers, reduced profits and accelerated adjustments to the industry’s structure. In many industries, production is tending to be concentrated in the hands of the strongest enterprises. In the case of caffeine, Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., CSPC Innovation Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Jilin Shulan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Tianjin Zhong’an Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. dominate. These four enterprises produce over 90% of the national output.

Supply and demand are tightly balanced

Caffeine is included in ChP2015, USP35, BP2013, JP16, EP8.6 and IP2010.
Medicines with caffeine as a major ingredient, such as pasteurized mixtures and caffeine sodium benzoate, are used to cure nervous weakness and nervous inhibition with satisfactory effects. They are used extensively in China. In addition, caffeine can be used to produce compound formulations with analgesics-antipyretics such as acetylsalicylic acid to cure headaches and used with ergotamine to cure hemicranias with remarkable effect.
As small dosages caffeine can help excite the cerebral cortex, it is added into “Cola” drinks. Sales of such drinks have increased dramatically for several decades.
Caffeine is also used in making industrial products such as ship coatings and special paper pulps.
International demand for caffeine exceeds 48 kt/a, and is increasing at an annual rate of 10%. Globally supply and demand are rather tightly balanced, but there is often a gap. China exports great quantities of caffeine, with both the volume and value increasing considerably each year.
Major destinations include the United States, Brazil, Europe and South America, with the United States taking over 30%.
Several major producers in China have formed a strategic partnership and developed long-term supplier relationships with both of the cola giants, Coca-Cola Company and Pepsi-Cola Company. International caffeine demand will still grow constantly, and China’s export of caffeine is expected to keep growing for a long time.

Natural products increasingly preferred

Artificially synthesized caffeine contains residues of its raw materials, so some countries prohibit the use of synthetic caffeine in drinks. Natural caffeine from plants has won more and more market acceptance and is often in short supply; plus, demand is sure to increase constantly in the future.
China has lots of favorable conditions for developing the extraction and production of natural caffeine from plants. Tea has polyphenols, and the caffeine content of tea is 2-5%. As everyone knows, China is a big tea producer.
Production processes and technologies for extracting caffeine from tea have become a hot item for scientific research. Principal types of production processes include alcohol extraction, water extraction, organic solvent extraction and supercritical carbon dioxide extraction. None of these, however, is considered to be well developed. So it is felt that output is too low and cost is too high, while market demand can hardly be satisfied. In contrast, microwave extraction is a fast, highly efficient and very selective method that has only emerged in recent years. It is already used in production for extracting caffeine from tea. With constant progress of science and technology, production processes for extracting caffeine from tea will surely improve further, and market development prospects are extremely bright.