A study by Huidian Research has forecast explosive growth in China's output of banana powder products after 2015, once new application fields mature on the back of an expected 30-35% growth rate this year.

The study, available on market research store Research and Markets, noted China's production of banana powder stood at 3,200 metric tons (MT) in 2012, of which 40-50% was exported. This is still only a fraction of the 100,000MT traded globally each year, of which 60% comes from India.

"The survey by Huidian Research shows that domestic banana pulping and pulverizing technologies may be adopted by fruit juice manufacturers by 2014, after two years of product research, development, trial-produce and promotion from 2014 to 2015," Research and Markets said in a release.

"Further processing [sic] banana products will be a significant part among juice beverages by 2016 in China just like apple and orange juices."

The release mentioned the main application areas for banana powder were currently health care food, functional food and baking.

"It is predicted that other further processing banana products will be developed to be mature in next several years, and the industrialization of banana juice and other banana liquid drinks will stimulate the growth of banana powder industry," Research and Markets said.

Huidian found there were around 10 large-scale banana powder manufacturing enterprises in China, mostly in the banana-growing areas of Fujian, Guangxi and Yunnan.

"In terms of product supply, the major suppliers of banana powder are Yunnan and Fujian, and their supply volumes of banana powder account for about 68.75% of total national volume."

Photo: Matthew Simantov, via Flickr Creative Commons

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