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Vitamin E market update, Vitafoods

  • 5 days ago
  • 2 min read

Following Vitafoods, Vernon Walden has continued to monitor a rapidly changing Vitamin E market.


The most significant pressure is currently in synthetic Vitamin E.

Based on direct discussions with some of the largest buyers, suppliers, and global processors in the industry, synthetic Vitamin E availability has tightened sharply since January due to reduced citral availability.


Citral

Citral is a critical upstream raw material used in the synthesis of Vitamin E, Vitamin A, and beta-carotene. Current market feedback indicates that some producers in China have had citral supply reduced by as much as 50%.

The impact on pricing has been significant:


• Pure Vitamin E oil pricing has increased approximately 100% to 135% since January

• Vitamin E powder pricing in the animal feed sector has increased by as much as 275%

• USP-grade Vitamin E powder pricing has increased approximately 30% to 40%


This is not simply a price issue. Citral availability is the limiting factor, and manufacturers cannot immediately increase output if citral is unavailable.

The natural Vitamin E market is facing a different set of dynamics.


On Natural Tocopherols and natural Vitamin E

Cargill announced approximately two months ago that it will discontinue production of all natural tocopherols in July 2026. While this removes one of the few U.S. manufacturers from the market, the global supply impact may be less severe than some buyers initially expect.


The key bottleneck in natural tocopherol and natural Vitamin E production is vegetable oil deodorizer distillate, the feedstock used to produce natural tocopherols and natural Vitamin E. As Cargill exits production, additional distillate may become available to other manufacturers.


For now, pricing on natural tocopherols is expected to remain mostly flat through the third quarter, although increased demand from synthetic Vitamin E disruption, global shipping issues, or changes in vegetable oil refining activity could alter that outlook.


James Borkan, President of Vernon Walden provides market update on Vitamin E post the Vitafoods Europe conference.

Vernon Walden continues to monitor developments across both synthetic and natural Vitamin E markets to ensure uninterrupted supply of the pure vitamins needed for production of our downstream powder products.


We are happy to review new inquiries from companies having difficulty sourcing synthetic Vitamin E, particularly USP-grade Vitamin E powder.






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