Botanicals growth is outstripping that of other speciality actives according to a report by consulting and research firm Kline & Company. Specialty Actives and Active Delivery Systems for Personal Care 2008: US and Europe found that botanicals consumption is increasing at 8%, much faster than the consumption of other speciality actives, which saw growth of just 5.4%.
Kline believes that this trend has been driven by natural products’ popularity with consumers. The report states that if a synthetic product and a botanical are offering the same functionality and efficiency, the botanical active will be the formulator’s first choice.
“Today’s consumer wants not only natural products, but also performance,” comments Nikola Matic, senior analyst, chemicals and material industry at Kline. “These two requirements were regarded as contradictory a few years ago, but highly substantiated botanical products developed recently brought new solutions to formulators.”
It is also thought that the ageing population in the US and Europe, where the market for speciality actives and delivery systems is worth approximately $840m, will promote the growth in botanical consumption in the anti-ageing sector.