Cocoa Butter Equivalent (CBE) Market was valued at USD 604.9 million in 2018, at a Significant CAGR in 2019-2026.

Cocoa Butter Equivalent (CBE) is also used as an ingredient in the production of lotions, soaps, creams, as it efficiently heals dry and sensitive skins, and other uses. Its types include, palm oil, shea butter, sal fat and others. It has applications mainly in food and beverages and pharmaceuticals sectors. Cocoa butter equivalent is increasingly being used in manufacturing moisturizers and antibacterial and antifungal ointments. Approximately, 54% people across the globe are suffering from various skin diseases and people are becoming health conscious and focusing on maintaining healthy skin conditions, thus the demand for moisturizers is projected to increase, which, in turn, may also increase the demand for CBE in manufacturing the product.

Market Dynamics

Increasing Prices of Cocoa Butter, giving space to alternatives

Cocoa butter is one of the core raw materials required for manufacturing chocolates. However, from the past few years, it has been witnessing huge fluctuation in prices. This fluctuation has increased the overall production cost and final product prices. The prices of cocoa butter are dependent on various factors such as production volume, demand-supply gap, and import quantity from the U.S. and European countries. To control production cost, manufacturers are more likely to prefer CBE over cocoa butter. For instance, in 2012, cocoa used to cost USD 3600/ton, which reached USD 6800/ton in 2018.

Shea butter is accounting for 29.7% market share in the forecast period

Shea butter is widely used as one of the major cocoa butter equivalents in chocolate manufacturing owing to its favorable physical and chemical characteristics such as texture, high shelf life, high melting point, and cost-effectiveness.

Regional

Asia Pacific is the fastest growing region in the forecast period

Asia pacific is offering lucrative opportunities for the market owing to it growing food and beverage sector. China is expected to witness slow growth in the global cocoa butter equivalent market during the forecast period due to low per capita chocolate consumption (0.2 kg per year) and presence of alternative Chinese sweets. Furthermore, Chinese Standards has permitted the use of chocolate containing 20 percent of cocoa butter and cocoa liquor in the country, which has further reduced the prices of chocolates. However, it has affected the consumption of CBE to some extent. Japan is expected to witness sluggish growth in the global cocoa butter equivalent market during the forecast period. Moreover, it is the largest confectionary market in Asia owing to high consumption of chocolate. However, most of the chocolate manufacturers are using cocoa beans grown in the country instead of using cocoa butter equivalent. For instance, Saitama-based Hiratsuka Confectionery Co. has successfully made chocolate from cacao beans grown in the Ogasawara Islands.