Bagasse Xylitol: The Future for Sugar Mills and Buyers

Among Polyols or Sugar Alcohols, Xylitol comes second after Sorbitol with a 14.9% share of the polyols market, with an estimated production of 223950 MT in 2013. China is the largest manufacturer of Xylitol, besides reputed suppliers such as Novagreen and Xylitol Canada exist in North America. Chinese suppliers use corncob as feedstock while North American and US based global suppliers use wood as feedstock. Sorbitol competes with Xylitol for applications.

The interest in Xylitol is due to demand driven by perceived health benefits. However, Sorbitol is priced cheaper than Xylitol. But procurement companies will be under pressure from public awareness of health benefits to procure Xylitol instead of Sorbitol. This is because Xylitol demand is projected to rise by 150% in the next 5 years owing to its perceived health benefits. Commercial Xylitol is manufactured from wood and corncobs by North American and Chinese suppliers respectively. Both are more expensive that Sorbitol, the competing substitute for Xylitol.

However, Corncob Xylitol is cheaper than Wood Xylitol and hence it is expected that China will be able to consolidate the Xylitol market in the future which implies that supplier bargaining power will be greater leading to higher annual spend.