Gellan Gum Market - Forecasts from 2024 to 2029

The gellan gum market is expected to reach a market size of US$254.221 million in 2029 from US$202.478 million in 2024, thereby growing at a CAGR of 4.66%.

Gellan gum is a food additive and gelling agent used to bind, stabilize, and texturize processed food items. It comes in high and low acyl and is made by fermenting sugar with specific bacteria strains found in nature, such as Xanthomonas campestris. Gellan gum is highly applicable in dairy-and non-dairy-based items and nutritional products.

It is a vegan product as it is a plant-based alternative to gelatine and helps to stabilize nutrients such as calcium. Besides the food & beverage sector, where it is applied in various products, gellan gum also finds high applicability in the pharmaceutical sector, where it acts as a binder for tablet formulation. It is also used for tissue generation, allergy relief, dental care, and bone repair. Additionally, owing to its stabilized properties, gellan gum is used to produce various skincare and haircare products.

Its health benefits include improving digestive benefits and controlling cholesterol levels, appetite, and blood sugar, which makes such additives an integral part of today's food recipes.

Gellan Gum Market Drivers:

• An increase in demand for food with high nutritional content is expected to boost the gellan gum market growth.

Gellan gum is artificially produced by bacteria, which improves food's overall structural viscosity. The increase in demand for nutritious food and beverages, particularly dairy products, protein foods, organic food, and a recent trend in vegan food, has contributed to the gellan gum market growth.

Beverages such as almond and chocolate milk, confectionaries, marshmallows, baked goods, and dairy products such as yogurt, cream, and fermented milk all require gellan gum to add texture and stabilize taste. Gellan gum is made using nature-based bacteria, owing to which it has high health benefits. With the growing trend of consuming nutritional food items, the market usage of gellan gum is set to show positive growth.

• Growing applicability in the pharmaceutical sector has propelled the overall market expansion.

The pharmaceutical sector is another major end-user of gellan gum, which is used in drug manufacturing due to its physicochemical properties. Besides medicine manufacturing, gellan gum is also used in medical applications such as stomatology, bone & dental repair, gene transfer, and tissue regeneration, among others. Bolstering growth in such applications has led to an upward market trajectory. According to the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Association, in 2022, drug production in Europe experienced a 4.5% growth over the preceding year.

• The growing health concern is anticipated to drive the gellan gum market growth.

Gellan gum plays an integral role in the preparation of gluten-free and organic goods, which are necessary for controlling cholesterol and blood sugar. The growing prevalence of heart disease due to high cholesterol has raised major health concerns, especially for adults. According to the World Heart Report 2023, high cholesterol constitutes one of the major causes of heart disease in Southeast Asia and in Central & Latin America.

Gellan Gum Market Restraints:

• Side effects of gellan gum can pose a challenge to their market growth.

Gellan gum offers various texture enhancement properties; however, gellan gum-based hydrogels have defects such as a lack of toughness and tissue tolerance, abdominal bloating, excessive flatulence, or diarrhea. Such negative side effects can hinder the overall usage scale of gellan gum in food & beverage items, restraining the overall market expansion

Gellan Gum Market Geographical Outlook

• North America is poised for significant growth during the given time frame.

Region-wise, the gellan gum market is analyzed into North America, South America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and Asia Pacific. North America is poised to show significant growth fuelled by favorable investments in the production of dairy alternatives and booming organic and vegan foods demand followed by an increase in food consumption in major regional economies, namely the United States and Canada. According to USDA (US Department of Agriculture), expenditure on food in the United States increased by 10.34% in 2022 compared to 2021's expenditure.

The presence of gellan gum companies DSM, Biopolymer International, Hawkins Watt, CP Kelco, and others increased the demand for gellan gum. The shift in people's preference for a healthy lifestyle has accelerated the demand for vegan and organic foods and dairy-based alternatives which has been attributed to the gellan gum market growth. According to USDA's "State of Organic Produce 2023", the country's organic produce sales witnessed 1.6% growth, topping up to US$9.6 billion.

Gellan Gum Players and Products

• Gellaneer Gellan Gum: DSM's "Gellaneer Gellan Gum" is a hydrocolloid drive from fermentation. The product offers tailored functionalities such as texturizing, syneresis control, and particle suspension to confectionary, plant-based food & beverages, and pet food. The product is available in "Gellaneer LA", "Gellaneer HA", Gellaneer HS" and "Gellaneer ND-JY".
• Biopolymer Gellan Gum: Biopolymer's multi-functional gellan gum produces a wide variety of textures and is available in "High acyl gellan gum forms soft" and "Low acyl gellan gum forms firm". The product meets standard requirements such as the US Pharmacopoeia/National Formulary, European Directives, JECFA, and Food Chemicals Codex.
• Gella Gum (418): Hawkins Watt Limited emphasizes improving suspension and structural viscosity in fluid gels through its Gellan Gum (418). It is water-soluble and is produced by using the bacterium Sphingomonas elodea. The gum can be easily dispersible in hot and cold water and can produce gels with excellent flavor release owing to which it is majorly used in dairy beverages as emulsifiers, stabilizers, and thickeners.
• Kelcogel: CP Kelco's "Kelcogel" gellan gum is used in preparing structured gel and liquids and is known for stabilization, excellent suspension, and low-impact viscosity. When contacting mono-, di- and multi-valent ions, the gum is used as a gelling agent. It can also be used in combination or individually with another variant.
• Colony Gellan Gum: Colony Gum's gellan product, available in both high acyl and low acyl, is used as a thickener for gel formation and suspension. The HA (High Acyl) gellan gum is ideal for molecular gastronomy, while LA (Low Acyl) is used to instruct sugar in the formula.

The Gellan Gum market is segmented and analyzed as follows:

By Type

• Low-Acyl Gellan Gum
• High-Acyl Gellan Gum

By Application

• Food and Beverage
• Pharmaceuticals
• Chemical
• Cosmetics
• Others

By Geography

• North America
• United States
• Canada
• Mexico
• South America
• Brazil
• Argentina
• Others
• Europe
• Germany
• France
• United Kingdom
• Italy
• Others
• Middle East and Africa
• Saudi Arabia
• Israel
• Others
• Asia Pacific
• China
• Japan
• South Korea
• India
• Indonesia
• Others