The sweeteners & sugar category has seen steady NPD in recent years. While the sugar segment is turning towards added-value solutions, NPD in sweeteners continues to revolve around the technical aspects related to the sweetness providing ingredients, reports Mintel’s Amanda White.
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Mintel’s GNPD (Global New Product Database) finds that the sweeteners and sugar category saw steady new product development levels between 1999 and 2000, with annual launch numbers of 86 and 88 respectively. Levels of NPD for 2001 have remained static at around 90.
In general, NPD levels in artificial sweeteners and sugar/artificial sweetener blends are on average about 25-30% lower than the launch levels of their natural counterparts.
In terms of new product launches versus new variety and range extensions, the category is showing a tendency towards genuine new products rather than expansions of existing lines. This course of development in part reflects the effort of marketers to shake off the low-value commodity image of the sugar category, with the introduction of new, added-value and premium-priced products.
As one would imagine, granulated sugar accounts for the majority of contemporary new product introductions, followed by cubes – which experienced a slight increase in recent years – and sugar crystals, which fell in popularity among marketers recently.
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By GlobalDataMove away from sugar as a commodity product
As recent product launches indicate, and despite the fact that white granulated sugar accounts for the majority of sales, declining prices along with narrow margins have persuaded manufacturers to reconsider their market approach in recent years. The sugar industry is striving to shake off its image of low-value commodity products by revamping traditional brands and developing new added-value premium priced products – only very few products are simply marketed as ‘sugar’. New variants either incorporate ‘fashionable’ speciality sugars such as demerara and muscovado, are flavoured, targeted at certain uses, for example, for cooking or baking, or come in premium-oriented packaging. Recent examples include:
CSM Suiker’s Kaneel Suiker, a cinnamon flavoured sugar for use in baking or for topping pancakes in the Netherlands. Packaged in a cone shape, it was launched at the beginning of 2001.
Cigario’s Shiozato Sweetener, which is a blend of natural salt and raw sugar in Japan. It is said to be a healthy sweetener ideal in coffee and tea as well as for baking and cooking dishes. Packaged in sachets, it was launched in the first quarter of 2001.
In the US, Nantucket Off-Shore Seasonings’ Coffee & Coca Rimmer, launched a blend of sugars to line the rim of cocoa or coffee drinks in the first quarter of 2001.
Williams-Sonoma’s cinnamon flavoured sugar in an old-fashioned glass jar in the
US.
Three formats of sweetener
Sweeteners generally come in three different formats: granulates, which account for the highest number of recent launches; tablets, which also take a considerable share; and – less common – liquids such as Delite Foods’ Tantalize Liquid Sweetener in South Africa (packaged in a squeezy bottle). Rather unusual for a sweetener in 1999 were Sara Lee’s Rafinesse cubes under the Natreen brand in Germany – a format which is largely used in the competing sugar segment.
Consumer demands for a wider variety of low-calorie products are driving the development and approval of alternative sweeteners. This is not only true for table-top sweeteners but is also prevalent in a range of other categories, such as sweets, fruit pastilles, gums and chocolates, where sweetness plays an important role.
In general we distinguish between bulk sweeteners such as polyols and/or polymeric bulking agents, including hydrogenated monosaccharides (mannitol, sorbitol and xylitol) and hydrogenated disaccharides (isomalt, malitol and lactitol), and high-intensity sweeteners such as saccharin, aspartame, acesufame-K, sucralose and cyclamic acid.
Bulk agents, which usually have about the same sweetness as sugar, are largely used in processed sweet foods and rarely occur in table-top sweeteners. However, exceptions include Sociedade Produtora de Alimentos liquid cooking sweetener with sorbitol and malitol in Brazil. High-intensity sweeteners on the other hand have several times the sweetness of sugar and are widely used in table-top sweeteners.
Taste matters – blends win out
Among the first high-intensity, non-nutritive sweeteners in the category were aspartame, acesufame-K, saccharin and cyclamic acid, which are still being used in the majority of contemporary sweeteners. Traditional saccharin-based tablets such as Biscol’s Sucrazit calorie-free sweetener tablets in South Africa, however, are not common anymore. Today, sweeteners tend to either be based on aspartame, combinations of ingredients, or come as sweetener/sugar blends, which provide both a reduced amount of calories and an almost authentic sugar taste. The latter not only accounts for the highest number of recent new product launches, but has also been subject to growth over the years. Examples of aspartame and mixed varieties in 2001 include:
Kesko’s Makeutus-Puriste aspartame based low calorie sweetener under the Pirkka brand in Finland.
Wegmans’ calorie- and sodium-free sweetener/sugar blend that contains dextrose, maltodextrin and aspartame (US).
Frau Alta Alimentazione’s Dolce Dieta Sweeteners tablets with acesulfame K, cyclamate and saccharin in Italy.
Sucralose, a high-intensity sweetener developed by McNeil Specialty Products and Tate & Lyle is to date only used outside Europe. Products currently formulated with the sweetener include McNeil Consumer Products’ No Calorie Sweetener in the US, and Nova América’s saccharose/sucralose blend in Brazil.
Calorie counters driving NPD, organics on the rise
In terms of health, the category is serving two different health related needs: one is the ever-growing trend towards low-calorie products and ingredients that provide a desired taste with fewer calories; and the second one is towards an organic and natural diet without the intake of undesirable additives and preservatives. The latter is being provided by sugar, reinforced by additional health-related claims such as natural, free from additives and preservatives, or even organic such as Univalem’s Zucc 100% natural, organic cane sugar in Brazil. The low-calorie trend is being addressed by non-nutritive sweeteners, which in some cases provide as little as 0 % calories. For example, Merisant launched Equal Pocket Calorie-Free Sweetener Tablets in a slim plastic container under the Equal brand in Australia.
Of late, we also see some vitamin-, mineral- and fibre-enriched variants, for example, Sucres de Tirlemont’s Ti’plus granulated sugar in Belgium and France with added vitamins and minerals. Some recent variants go even one step further and incorporate functional properties such as Hermes Sweeteners’ Edulcorant Végétal and Edulcorant Granulé Sweetener in Switzerland and France respectively. They contain prebiotic natural vegetable fibres, which are said to stimulate and regulate digestion. On a similar subject is Raffinerie de Tirlemont’s Ti’flora in Belgium and France, which is said to have a beneficial effect on intestinal flora and fight harmful bacteria.
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Manufacturers have also increasingly tried to combine the positive aspects of sugar with the advantages that are usually associated with non-nutritive sweeteners, leading to the development of natural sweeteners. Those products promise a lower calorie content without the addition of artificial sweeteners such as aspartame or acesulfame K. Recent new product launches on that subject include:
Stevitafarma Industrial Diet Sweetener Drops in Brazil, which are free of calories and all natural. The product contains 12% pure stevia, which is derived from the stevia plant that belongs to the compositae (sunflower) family of plants. Eridania’s ‘light’ real sugar in Italy, which is made from sugar beet, and powdered and aerated to increase its volume.
By Amanda White, Mintel
