Dutch ingredients company Royal DSM increased its share in the China-based company from 10% to 29% earlier this month, calling Andre Pectin “the only successful global pectin market entrant in the past 20 years” and “the only significant pectin manufacturer in Asia”, withannual net sales of around €30m.
The price increases will affect all deliveries from November 1, 2013, and the exact increase with depend on the product grade.
“In the past two years, we have been experiencing unprecedented price increases in citrus peel and apple pomace,” Andre Pectin said in a statement. “Unfortunately this situation is deteriorating and hurting the market due to worsened supply of raw materials in the new season.”
Company spokesperson Sara Wei told FoodNavigator: “Costs of raw materials for pectin production, both citrus peel and apple pomace, have risen mainly due to increasing processing costs and price of citrus fruit or apples. Processing costs take into account a whole range of factors that have increased in cost, while the price and supply of natural fruit is affected by weather conditions and recently a citrus disease called greening that we are facing now in some countries.”
Meanwhile, hydrocolloids market analyst Dennis Seisun said that other likely factors were increasing demand for the whole fruit, which is more profitable than juicing, and increasing demand from non-pectin users, particularly for citrus fibre products.
Andre Pectin’s pectin products are widely used in a variety of food applications, including jams and fruit spreads, confectionery, fruit preparation for yoghurt, beverages, acidified dairy drinks and health supplements.
US-based Fiberstar, for example, is touting its citrus fibers as a partial replacement for eggs in bakery products.