Ramping Up for Global Stevia Growth; PureCircle, Sunwin Stevia International (OTCQB: SUWN) and Evolva

POINT ROBERTS, Washington and NEW YORK, June 8, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

Investorideas.com, a global news source covering leading sectors including food and beverage stocks and LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability) stocks, reports on recent developments in the growing stevia market.

Stevia the natural sweetener, is on a path to replace sugar, outpacing its competition and showing that globally, consumers are choosing a healthier alternative.  

According to a recent report by Research and Markets, "Globally, the sweetener market is estimated to be US$68.1 billion in 2014 and expected to reach at US$95.9 billion by 2020, registering a CAGR of 5.7% during 2014-2020.

The stevia market is estimated at US$347.0 million in 2014 and expected to reach US$565.2 million by 2020, a CAGR of 8.5%. In terms of volume consumption stevia is expected to reach 8,506.9 tonnes by the end of 2020, an annual growth of 7-8%."

Companies competing in the global stevia market made recent announcements about how they are ramping up production, improving their product lines and seeing first-hand how consumers are embracing their products with increasing sales.

Sunwin Stevia International, Inc. (OTCQB: SUWN), one of the top global suppliers of high-quality stevia extracts including Rebaudioside A 98 and Rebaudioside A99, reported that it has completed construction of a new manufacturing facility that can produce 500 metric tons of high-grade stevia per year.  The new facility has been in operation to produce high-grade stevia products on a commercial basis for the market.

In 2014, Sunwin Stevia invested approximately US$2 million to start building this new facility in order to meet substantially increased demand for its high-grade stevia products. The new manufacturing facility is fully equipped with stainless steel equipment without any plastic. It has a fully automated system in order to prevent any potential contamination from operators and/or plastic. In addition, the new manufacturing facility uses the most advanced production equipment in the industry, that is, for the first time, to be used for stevia production - such as 'scraper with centrifuge' and 'fluidized drying system'.

As of now, Sunwin Stevia has approximately 1,600 metric tons in manufacturing capacity per year to produce high-grade stevia extract.  With these manufacturing facilities, Sunwin Stevia is able to deliver stevia products containing Rebaudioside A in a range of 50% to 99% with a format of powder, granular or tablet.

Sunwin Stevia recently announced that it has received a major purchase order of 40 metric tons enzyme-treated stevia products valued over US$3.2 million for the calendar year of 2015 by Wild Flavors, Inc.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sunwin-stevia-international-receives-major-144200767.html

Sunwin Stevia also reported that it has submitted a patent application for its enzyme-treated stevia products.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/sunwin-stevia-international-receive-patent-120000586.html

In May, Evolva and Cargill said they agreed to begin the engineering phase for converting an existing Cargill manufacturing facility to produce next-generation stevia sweeteners (steviol glycosides). The ingredients are expected to be commercially available in 2016.

Under terms of the 2013 joint development agreement between the two companies, Evolva received an option to obtain up to a 45% stake in the business to

commercialize the sweeteners. Evolva has informed Cargill that it intends to exercise this 45% option, subject to final terms being agreed between the two companies. Total investment by Cargill and Evolva in the engineering phase will be US$3 million. Evolva does not expect to incur further costs relating to the option exercise before the final agreement is in place, which is expected to be in the second half of 2015. Upon signing the final agreement, Evolva anticipates that it will need to invest low tens of millions USD through 2017. Evolva is exploring various financing options in this context.

Evolva CEO Neil Goldsmith commented, "We have been delighted by our close cooperation with Cargill over the past two-plus years. The decision to commence engineering work reflects our mutual desire and commitment to bring great tasting, cost-effective sweeteners to the market as soon as possible. While there remain risks which could impact the timing of the final product launch and consumer uptake, we are confident in our joint progress."

"Adding new production capabilities at our Cargill Blair facility fits strategically with our overall growth plan and is an exciting and necessary step as we prepare for the commercialization of a next-generation sweetener," stated David Henstrom, Vice President for Health Ingredients at Cargill. "This sweetener will offer a new, delicious choice for reduced and zero-calorie food and beverages."

PureCircle,  a global producer and supplier of high-quality stevia products, was invited to the 20th International Food Ingredients & Additives Exhibition and Conference (IFIA 2015), held from May 20^th (Wed) - 22^nd (Fri), 2015 at Tokyo Big Sight, West Exhibition Hall, Tokyo, Japan to showcase its latest innovation, Stevia 3.0TM.  

During the conference, PureCircle demonstrated how to achieve the correct stevia composition and obtain the proper formulations for different products by adopting the PureCircle Stevia 3.0TM approach. This customizable approach helps to meet diverse demands for formulation optimization, provides cost savings and helps achieve greater calorie reduction.

Sigma-D is the newest product developed by the PureCircle Global R&D Team specifically for dairy formulations and it performs closer to sugar in taste applications. It has a clean sweetness profile, with reduced lingering sweetness and licorice aftertaste. Products using Sigma-D can reach an 80 percent sugar reduction or go sugar-free.

The Stevia Market: Global Industry Analysis and Opportunity Assessment 2014 - 2020 also went on to say, "Stevia market segmentation includes liquid, powder, and leaf extract. Liquid extracts are further sub-segmented as clear liquid extract and dark liquid extract. Powder extracts contribution to the overall pie is expected to be dominant during the forecast period, accounting for 65% of the overall stevia market share by 2020. However, liquid extracts segment is experiencing a robust CAGR of 8.7% during the forecast period.

Use in the stevia market includes dairy food products, bakery products, dietary supplements, confectionery, table top sweeteners, beverages, packaged food products, snacks, and others. Among all these segments, packaged food products, beverages and table top sweeteners are collectively expected to account for around 72.0% of the global stevia market."

See the report: http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/m3g6tj/stevia_market

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