Production and Future Development of Niacin in China

Niacin, also known as vitamin B3, is the generic descriptor for two compounds, nicotinic acid and nicotinamide. Its global market size was over USD400 million in 2012, according to the estimates by CEO of Advance Intermediates and Nutritional Products of Jubilant Life Sciences Ltd. According to his saying, approximately 60%-70% of the value was attributed to applications in the animal nutrition market and the remaining 30%-40% to human nutrition, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and technical applications.

Europe and the US are the two largest niacin consumption regions in the world, and China's market is growing rapidly.

In recent years, global players have been actively expanding their niacin capacity and the world total capacity is estimated to reach 85,000t/a by 2014. Niacin production in the world has been concentrated in only three players, with Lonza Group Ltd. being the absolute leader.

China has started to grow into an important niacin production country after Lonza Group Ltd. launched its niacin plant in Guangzhou China in the 1990s. However, it was only in the 2000s when the raw material supply shortage began to be solved that local producers' investment in niacin started to pose challenges to the established global leaders.

Chinese local players started a wave of investments during 2008~2010, such as the launches of new capacities and the plans of expansion, and at least 10 new players joining in niacin production.

In order to figure out the current status of China's niacin industry after the investment fever, CCM carries out this research to help readers to better understand the competition landscape of this industry by updating the industry trends from the following aspects:
 Brief overview of niacin development history in China
 China's niacin capacity and output from 2008 till first half of 2014
 The active players, their capacity and output changes from 2011 till 2013, and their competitive advantages
 Price changes and factors behind the change
 Raw material supply situation and capacities of major suppliers from 2011 till 2014
 Price trends in the past three years from 2011
 Applications of niacin, including the consumption structure by volume
 Outlook of China's niacin industry by comparing to that of Vitamin C, another vitamin that has similar trends with niacin but is about 10 years ahead in its development history in China

1 Executive Summary 2
2 Methodology 3
3 Situation of niacin industry 5
4 Situation of production in China 6
4.1 Domestic production of Niacin, 2011-2014 6
4.2 Domestic producers of niacin, 2011-2014 8
4.3 Price of niacin in China, 2010-June 2014 10
5 Production technology 13
6 Raw materials of niacin 14
6.1 Production situation of raw materials in China, 2011-2013 14
6.2 Producers of raw materials in China 16
7 Application of niacin 20
7.1 Application in feed 21
7.2 Application in pharmaceuticals 22
7.3 Application in food and others 23
8 Outlook of China niacin industry in comparison with Vitamin C 25
8.1 Comparison from policy, technology, raw material, and supply and demand 25
8.2 Forecast on future of niacin industry in China 29

LIST OF TABLES
Table 2-1 Exchange rate between USD and RMB, 2004-June 2014
Table 4.2-1 Capacity of niacin producers in China, 2011-2014, t/a
Table 6.2-1 Capacity and output of 3-picoline producers in China, 2011-2013
Table 6.2-2 Capacity and output of 3-cyanopyridine producers in China, 2011-2013
Table 7.3-1 Recommended dosage of niacin added into different kinds of food
Table 8.1-1 Similarities between the development of niacin and that of Vitamin C in China
Table 8.1-2 Unit consumption of raw materials of niacin and Vitamin C
Table 8.1-3 Capacity of 3-picoline, 3-cyanopyridine and niacin in China, 2011-2013
Table 8.1-4 Capacity of Sorbitol and Vitamin C in China, 2011-2013
Table 8.1-5 National policies on niacin and Vitamin C in China

LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 4.1-1 Capacity and output of niacin in China, 2008-1H 2014, t/a and tonne
Figure 4.3-1 Price of niacin in China, 2010~1H 2014, USD/t
Figure 6-1 Industrial chain of niacin
Figure 6.1-1 Capacity and output of 3-picoline and 3-cyanopyridine in China, 2011-2013
Figure 6.1-2 Ex-works price of 3-picoline and 3-cyanopyridine in China, 2009-2013, USD/t
Figure 7-1 Consumption of niacin in China, 2011-2013, tonne
Figure 7-2 Niacin consumption structure in China by application volume, 2013
Figure 7.1-1 Output of feed in China, 2004-2013, tonne
Figure 8.1-1 Comparison of China's capacity of niacin and Vitamin C against world total in 2013