Specialty Fats and Oils Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2021 - 2026)

Cocoa production has always been fluctuating, and it is a costly ingredient. Hence, confectioners are using alternative ingredients to substitute cocoa butter to maintain profit margins. Earlier, cocoa butter was preferred over cocoa butter equivalent (CBE) as a fat source in chocolate products, but in the coming years, the balance is projected to shift in favor of CBEs. Annual growth in CBE demand is currently estimated to be at 10%, while for chocolate, it is only 3-4%. Reasons for the recent interest in CBEs include their 30-40% reduction in cost, as compared to cocoa butter, their sustainability, and the flexibility of the products. These specialty fats are also predominantly used to produce compound coatings used in bakery and confectionery products, where the coatings form 10% to 30% of the total weight of the enrobed products.

As chocolate has begun to be used for a wider range of applications, including bread, ice cream, and cookies. Moeover, there has been an increasing demand for highly functional specialty oils and fats for chocolate manufacturing. China ranks second, with about 14% of the total world production of fats and oils in 2015, and the country is a major producer of soybean and canola oils. In China, palm oil is widely being used to replace hydrogenated oils, as the base specialty oil in processed food, bakery, and confectionery. Confectioners are increasingly substituting cocoa butter with CBEs derived from a mix of shea stearin and palm mid fraction, due to reduced cost, improved functionality, and sustainability. Around 90-95% of exported shea butter is used in the production of cocoa butter equivalents in China. This is increasing the growth of the market studied in the region.