Sunwin to broaden stevia presence through Chinese private label bakery

The stevia supplier will market six of its formulations that it co-developed with Wild Flavors to various manufacturers across the country for use in bakery blends. The formulations can also be used as table top sweeteners.

It said it intends to market the stevia for manufacturers to develop licensed private label products – a move that it said will expand its domestic distribution base in China.

Dongdong Lin, CEO of Sunwin Stevia International, said the marketing effort in China is an exciting move. “We believe that by assisting food manufacturers in developing cost effective ‘private label’ stevia products we can expand our sales and develop long term distribution channels for Sunwin Stevia for years to come.”​

Lin said Sunwin has worked closely with Wild Flavors to develop the formulas that allow use of lower and more inexpensive grades of stevia.

“This is the right strategy to help us further grow our core stevia distribution business,”​ Lin added.

 Cheaper in surging China…​

Stevia grades in the formulations range from Reb-A60 to Reb-A80. “The use of these grades of stevia can enable the development of less costly alternatives for food manufacturers seeking to provide stevia based products in the China marketplace,”​ the company said.

China’s bread and bakery sector is set to pull in $10.3bn for 2012, up 20.1% from 2011, according to IBISWorld.

A Puratos study, published in June this year, also indicated that health is what matters most to Chinese consumers and that they expect changes.