By Shen Guiying, China National Chemical Information Center

In the food industry, sodium benzoate can be used as antiseptic for candied fruits, condiments, beverages, etc. In the pharmaceutical industry, sodium benzoate can be used for the preservation of traditional Chinese medicine mixture. In the automobile chemical industry, sodium benzoate can be added to antifreeze so as to extend its shelf life. In the oil exploitation industry, sodium benzoate is used as an anti-fermenting agent added in offshore oil drilling fluid to prevent the degradation of starch or vegetable gum treatment agent in the mud. In the feed industry, sodium benzoate can be used as an anti-fungal agent. Meanwhile, it can also be used to extend life of cut flowers like lily, chrysanthemum, rose, and peony. In addition, sodium benzoate can also be used as a mordant in the printing and dyeing industry and be applied to the production of plasticizers and perfume benzyl benzoate.

Facing competition from various products

   In the food industry, commonly used preservatives are benzoic acid (including benzoic acid, sodium benzoate, potassium benzoate), sorbic acid (including sorbic acid, potassium sorbate, sodium sorbate), propionic acid (propionic acid, calcium propionate), natural preservatives, etc. Sodium benzoate and potassium sorbate are two mostly used products. The applications of propionic acid preservatives in food sector are mainly breads and cakes. Therefore, sorbic acid and natural preservatives are sodium benzoate’s major competitors in food industry. Sodium benzoate is being replaced by competitive products due to its relatively high toxicity. It is expected that this trend will continue.

   In the field of feed additives, calcium propionate and benzoic acid are competing products of sodium benzoate. Benzoic acid can be used not only as an anti-fungal agent but also as an acidifying agent. Therefore, in the feed industry, benzoic acid is more consumed than sodium benzoate.

Cost advantage still exists

   In the food industry, sodium benzoate still has a cost advantage over the natural preservatives nisin, sorbic acid, and potassium sorbate. The costs of sodium benzoate and its competitors in food industry are shown in Table 1.

  Table 1   Costs of sodium benzoate and its competitors in food industry, 2018

   As can be seen from Table 1, sodium benzoate is more toxic in these four preservatives. However, the cost of easily produced potassium sorbate is about twice of that of sodium benzoate, and the nisin is about 12 to 15 times more expensive than sodium benzoate.

The market will grow slowly

   From the consumption side, all the derivatives are expanding. Candied fruit is one of the main consumers of sodium benzoate. In 2004, the output value of China's candied fruit industry was RMB17 billion. In 2015, it grew to RMB148.6 billion, with an average annual growth rate of 21.8%. Given the fact that sodium benzoate will be replaced by other products, the growth rate of its consumption in this sector will be smaller than the growth of the candied fruit.

   Beverages are also one of the main consuming areas of sodium benzoate. In 2011, China's beverage production exceeded 100 million tons, and its output in 2018 reached 160 million tons, with an average compound annual growth rate of 6.9%.

   At present, during the production of fruit and vegetable juice beverages, sodium benzoate is only used in the heat sterilization process, facing the competition from potassium sorbate at the same time, as preservatives are rarely used in the refrigerated storage method and frozen storage method. With the upgrading of the logistics industry, there will be more and more cold chain transportation. It is expected that the refrigerated and frozen storage methods will be more and more popular in the production of fruit and vegetable juice. The growth rate of sodium benzoate in this field will be slow.

   Soy sauce and vinegar are traditional condiments. China's soy sauce production has shown a relatively stable development trend in the past five years. In recent years, the output of vinegar has been about 3.8 million to 4 million tons, with an average annual growth rate of less than 3%.

   In summary, China’s sodium benzoate market is at a mature stage, and alternative products have already been there. With the cost advantage, the sodium benzoate market will maintain a development of low speed in the next 5 to 10 years.