Global demand for plant extract is growing at an average rate of 9.2% annually, and its intrinsic advantages lie in the two-fold attributes of safety and economy. Evidence from the medical field shows that the use of curcumin extract (purity ≥95%) as an alternative to NSAIDS can reduce the risk of liver damage in chronic arthritis patients by 67%, 2023 Novartis clinical trial confirmed that daily intake of 500mg dosage can decrease the release of inflammatory factor IL-6 by 38%, and the treatment cost is 52% less than chemical drugs. In the cosmetics market, L ‘Oreal’s 2024 financial report indicated that anti-aging essence containing 0.5% alpine tinderwood extract increased the skin collagen synthesis rate by 29% and the re-purchase rate by 73% via SIRT1 gene activation, while the re-purchase rate of similar chemical synthetic ingredient-containing products was only 41%, with a 4.3 times higher sensitization complaint rate.
Economically, the use of plant extract in the food additive business has significant economic gains: monkfruit glucoside is 300 times sweeter than sucrose, but the production cost per ton is only $12,500, 18% lower than the artificial sweetener sucralose, and Coca-Cola’s sugar-free series products launched in 2023 thus achieved a 5.7 percentage point increase in gross profit margin. In agricultural application, Syngenta’s 0.3% matrine biopesticide has the controlling effect of 91.5% on aphid, and the average dosage per acre is 40% less than chemical pesticides, and the passing rate of residue test is 100%, which has supported China’s yearly growth of 23% of organic vegetable planting area. In the industrial market, 30% castor oil-based bioplastics (plant extract) from DuPont possess 45MPa tensile strength, and the degradation cycle from 500 years to 6 months for petroleum products, and after EU REACH certification, the order volume has grown by 214% in the year 2023.
Technology innovation brings about plant extract efficiency improvement. The intelligent extraction system of Switzerland Buchi optimizes parameters through AI algorithm (temperature 50±2℃, pressure 35bar), which increases the extraction efficiency of rosemary antioxidants by 40%, reduces production energy consumption by 28%, and saves annual cost of 480,000 yuan per production line. Microencapsulation technology breakthrough (embedding rate ≥951.2, realized large-scale application in 35 Yangtze River Delta printing and dyeing factories, annual reduction of organic pollutant emissions 120,000 tons.
Policy compliance upgrades the competitiveness of natural raw materials, after the European Union’s Cosmetics Regulation EC 1223/2009 has included 22 chemical preservatives in the list of prohibited substances, the antibacterial activity of tea tree oil extract (concentration 1.2%) as a substitute achieved 99.3%, causing related product sales in the European market to increase by 37% in 2023. Under the healthy consumption trend, the proportion of plant extract in functional labeled foods in Japan increased from 31% in 2019 to 58% in 2023, with 1.2 million pieces of soy isoflavones consumed every day, and it was clinically confirmed to be able to reduce the rate of bone mineral density loss in women by 19%. It is estimated by Grand View Research that the penetration rate of global plant extract in the pharmaceutical sector will exceed 44% in 2025, creating a new market with an annual output value of $62 billion, solidifying its position as an indispensable cross-industry strategic resource.