Locust Bean Gum Market Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report By End Use, Regional Outlook, Competitive Strategies, And Segment Forecasts, 2019 To 2025

The global locust bean gum market has been witnessing significant growth over the past few years on account increasing demand form end-use industries including foods, paper, and textiles, and this trend is expected to continue over the next seven years. Locust bean gum has wide applications in textile industry as a sizing agent to enhance the handle ability and bonding characteristics between resin systems. Locust bean gum has been replacing guar gum applications in the food & beverage industry owing to its low price, which is expected to be the key driving factor for market’s future growth. Increasing application scope of locust bean gum in oil drilling fluids, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics is anticipated to have positive impact on market growth over the next seven years. However, low prices result in heavy losses to locust bean gum growers worldwide. This is anticipated to result in future supply issues, which in turn is expected to hamper market growth over the forecast period. In addition, carob trees are mainly present in Mediterranean regions, where frost causes damage to the fruits of carob trees resulting in fewer yields in winter season. Fluctuation of LBG prices between seasons is also anticipated to restrain market growth.

Locust bean gum is used for various functions such as thickening, fat replicators, stabilization, gelling, coating, texturants, and sizing agents in various industries. Locust bean gum has applications in confectionery, bakery, dairy products, pharmaceutical excipients, fiber adhesion, meat & meat products, food & beverage products and sauces, condiments & dressing.

Based on end-use industries, locust bean gum market can be segmented into food & beverages, textile, pharmaceuticals, paper, oil drilling fluids, and cosmetics. The food & beverage industry emerged as the largest end-use segment for locust bean gum market owing to widespread application base in this industry. Food & beverage industry is expected to remain the largest end-use segment over the forecast period on account of increasing locust bean gum application as thickening, stabilizing, texturizing, gelling, and fat replicating agent in various food & beverage products. Increasing application scope of locust bean gum in ice creams, pet foods, and baby foods is the key factor to trigger the market growth in this segment. Paper industry was the second major industry for the market owing to its superior properties used in improving physical characteristics of paper. However, paper industry has been losing its market share owing to replacement of locust bean gum with other conventional material. Textile industry has been witnessing considerable growth owing to strong demand for locust bean gum as sizing agent. Other industries including pharmaceutical and cosmetics are expected to witness considerable growth in near future.

Europe was the largest market for locust bean gum in 2013. Within Europe, the U.K. was the largest importer for locust bean gum followed by Germany, owing to strong demand from end-use industries present in these regions. Asia pacific was the second largest market for locust bean gum owing to increasing demand from food & beverages industries in China, India, and Japan. However, North America has been losing market share over the past few years on account of prevailing high prices of locust bean gum.

Key players in locust bean gum market include Scalzo Food Industries, LBG Sicilia ingredients, G Araouzos & Son, Gum Technology Corporation, Ceamsa, TIC Gums Incorporation, CP Kelco, FMC Specialty Chemicals, Fiberstar Inc., Kerry Group and Cargill.