Licorice Extract Market

Global Licorice Extract Market Size, Share, and Growth Forecast 2026–2033

Key Market Highlights

• The global licorice extract market is expected to be valued at US$ 1,009.80 Million in 2026 and is projected to reach US$ 1,558.93 Million by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 6.4% between 2026 and 2033.
• Asia Pacific’s 38.6% market share in 2026 is driven by integrated cultivation and extraction infrastructure, though rising competition from Iranian processors is encouraging global buyers to diversify sourcing strategies.
• Food Grade leads with a 46.8% share, supported by long-term demand from confectionery and functional beverage manufacturers, ensuring stable but moderate revenue growth.
• Pharmaceutical Grade is the fastest-growing segment, fueled by expanding clinical use of glycyrrhizin and stricter quality standards established by health authorities in Asia.
• Growing demand for glabridin and glycyrrhizin in both cosmetics and pharmaceuticals is creating a high-value opportunity for dual-certified suppliers, enabling premium pricing and stronger market positioning.

Key Growth Determinants

• Pharmaceutical-Grade Glycyrrhizin Demand Anchored by Anti-Inflammatory Clinical Pathways

Pharmaceutical manufacturers integrating licorice extract into anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, and antiviral drug formulations now represent the single most structurally durable demand channel, compelling ingredient suppliers to invest in pharmaceutical-grade processing infrastructure. Minophagen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. of Japan has manufactured SNMC (Stronger Neo-Minophagen C), a glycyrrhizin-based intravenous preparation used clinically for chronic hepatitis B and C since the 1970s and still generating consistent institutional procurement volumes across East Asian healthcare systems as of 2024.

As the World Health Organization (WHO) continues to include herbal-derived actives in its updated Essential Medicines List reviews, downstream formulation demand for verified-purity glycyrrhizin will intensify, compelling mid-tier suppliers to upgrade towards pharmacopoeia-compliant production or exit the pharmaceutical channel entirely by the late 2020s.

Key Growth Barriers

• Supply Concentration Risk in Primary Cultivation Geographies

Approximately 70–75% of global *Glycyrrhiza glabra* root cultivation is concentrated across Iran, China, and Uzbekistan geographies subject to periodic export licensing restrictions, water-table depletion advisories, and bilateral trade complications creating systematic supply fragility that compresses margins for downstream buyers who lack diversified sourcing.

China's Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs has classified licorice root (*Gancao*) as a protected medicinal plant species, subjecting wild-harvest volumes to annual quota controls that periodically constrain raw material availability for export-oriented processors. For new entrants without established multi-country procurement networks, this sourcing constraint translates into a 15–20% cost premium relative to incumbents with long-term offtake agreements, constituting a meaningful barrier to competitive pricing at entry.

Licorice Extract Market Opportunities

• Cosmetic and Dermatological Application Expansion Driven by Glabridin's Skin-Brightening Efficacy

Cosmetic ingredient formulators and contract manufacturers should treat the expanding clinical evidence base for glabridin a licorice root isoflavonoid as an entry signal into the premium skin-brightening and anti-hyperpigmentation segment, where it competes directly with kojic acid and arbutin but carries a more favourable natural-ingredient positioning. L'Oréal S.A. incorporated licorice-derived glabridin into its Bright Reveal skincare line launched in 2023, citing clinical data on melanogenesis inhibition, which validated glabridin's functional performance for a mass-premium consumer audience.

Speciality chemical suppliers that can consistently deliver cosmetic-grade glabridin at standardised purity levels will capture disproportionate value, provided they secure COSMOS or Ecocert certification to satisfy the natural cosmetics channel requirements increasingly mandated by European and North American prestige retailers.

Market Segmentation Analysis

Product Type Analysis

Food Grade licorice extract accounts for 46.8% of the global licorice extract market in 2026, equivalent to US$ 472.59 Million, a position it retains because mass-market confectionery, bakery, and beverage manufacturers source at scale with consistent reorder cycles that no other product tier matches.

Confectionery producers ranging from European black-licorice specialists to Asian herbal candy manufacturers rely on food-grade glycyrrhizin to deliver the characteristic anise-adjacent sweetness profile in liquorice allsorts, throat lozenges, and herbal teas without triggering mandatory labelling thresholds. Craft beverage producers in North America also deploy food-grade liquid and powder extracts as botanical flavour modifiers in premium spirit infusions and health-functional teas, reinforcing the segment's breadth across distinct buyer verticals.

Pharmaceutical Grade is the fastest growing product type, accelerating as regulators in multiple jurisdictions formalise standards for botanical active pharmaceutical ingredients. Indena S.p.A. of Italy, a specialist botanical extract manufacturer, expanded its licorice-derived phytochemical portfolio in 2024 to address European Pharmacopoeia-compliant glycyrrhizin supply for hepatology and dermatology formulations, signalling that industrial-scale pharmaceutical-grade processing capacity is now commercially viable outside traditional Asian supplier networks.

Form Analysis

Powder form accounts for 43.7% of the global licorice extract market in 2026, equivalent to US$ 441.28 Million, driven by powder's superior shelf stability, precise dosimetry in dry-blending operations, and compatibility with standard pharmaceutical tablet and capsule manufacturing equipment.

Dietary supplement brands including those distributing through iHerb and Amazon's third-party health supplement storefronts predominantly specify powder-form licorice root extract because batch-to-batch weight consistency enables label-claim accuracy for glycyrrhizin content declarations. Industrial food processors operating continuous-mixing bakery lines similarly prefer powder for its dust-free handling compatibility with automated ingredient dispensing systems, cementing this form's dominance across two structurally distinct buyer segments simultaneously.

Liquid form is the fastest growing, propelled by the ready-to-drink herbal beverage and functional shot category. The Coca-Cola Company's Honest Tea and comparable functional beverage lines reformulating with botanical extract blends since 2023 have elevated liquid licorice extract procurement, as its direct solubility eliminates the hydration and homogenisation steps that powder requires at high-volume bottling speeds a tangible manufacturing efficiency advantage that is accelerating adoption among beverage co-manufacturers.

Application Analysis

Food & Beverages leads the licorice extract market by application with 39.5% of global revenues in 2026, equivalent to US$ 398.87 Million, sustained by the ingredient's dual role as a natural sweetener and flavour enhancer across confectionery, bakery, brewing, and functional beverage categories. European confectionery producers particularly those operating under Dutch, Scandinavian, and German national confectionery associations that mandate natural ingredient sourcing standards are the highest-volume institutional buyers, procuring licorice root extract in multi-tonne quantities for black licorice candy and seasoning applications.

Craft brewers in North America have adopted licorice extract as a hops-complementary bittering adjunct in stout and porter styles, creating a second structurally distinct buyer cohort that reinforces Food & Beverages' dominant revenue position.

Pharmaceutical is the fastest growing application, propelled by regulatory acceptance of glycyrrhizin-derived actives in anti-inflammatory and antiviral drug categories. Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., India's largest pharma company by revenue, incorporated licorice-derived glycyrrhizic acid into an Ayurveda-complementary hepatoprotective formulation approved for domestic distribution in 2023, directly demonstrating how Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers are operationalising the intersection of traditional medicine validation and modern clinical standards to expand licorice extract procurement volumes.

Regional Insights

Asia Pacific Licorice Extract Market Trends and Insights

Asia Pacific accounts for 38.6% of the global licorice extract market in 2026, representing US$ 389.78 Million, anchored by the region's dual role as the world's primary cultivation and processing hub and a rapidly expanding domestic consumer of pharmaceutical and food-grade licorice derivatives.

China's National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine has accelerated the formalisation of *Gancao* (licorice root) as a scheduled botanical active under China's 2022 revised Traditional Chinese Medicine Law, elevating quality standards across the domestic extraction industry and creating export-grade supply capacity that will sustain the region's market leadership through 2033.

China Licorice Extract Market Size

The China licorice extract market represents 15.8% of the Asia Pacific regional market in 2026, equivalent to US$ 61.59 Million, underpinned by China's vertically integrated supply chain from cultivated root in Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia to finished extract for domestic pharmaceutical and confectionery buyers.

Forward momentum is driven by China's 14th Five-Year Plan for Traditional Chinese Medicine (2021–2025), which allocated capital toward industrial-scale botanical extraction modernisation, positioning Chinese processors to capture higher-value pharmaceutical-grade export contracts through 2030.

India Licorice Extract Market Size

The India licorice extract market represents 8.4% of the Asia Pacific regional market in 2026, equivalent to US$ 32.74 Million, driven by Ayurvedic formulation demand from domestic fast-moving consumer goods companies and export-oriented herbal product manufacturers.

The Ministry of AYUSH's National Medicinal Plants Board has funded cultivation expansion programs for *Glycyrrhiza glabra* across Rajasthan and Jammu & Kashmir since 2022, providing a supply-side foundation that should allow Indian processors to reduce import dependence from Central Asian suppliers within three to five years.

Japan Licorice Extract Market Size

The Japan licorice extract market represents 6.2% of the Asia Pacific regional market in 2026, equivalent to US$ 24.17 Million, anchored by the country's deeply embedded use of glycyrrhizin compounds in quasi-drug cosmetics and pharmaceutical-grade hepatology preparations distributed through hospital procurement channels.

Maruzen Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. continues to invest in high-purity glycyrrhizin extraction capabilities at its Japanese facilities, and as Japan's Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency (PMDA) reviews botanical active ingredient monographs for updated quality standards, domestic procurement specifications are expected to tighten favouring premium-grade domestic and certified-import suppliers.

Middle East & Africa Licorice Extract Market Trends and Insights

Middle East & Africa accounts for 7.8% of the global licorice extract market in 2026, representing US$ 78.76 Million, with Iran's position as one of the world's largest licorice root exporters creating a structurally unique dynamic where the region is simultaneously a primary raw material origin and an emerging value-added processing centre.

Zagros Licorice Co. of Iran has expanded solvent-extraction capacity since 2023, positioning the country to capture more finished-extract export revenue rather than solely raw-root trade a development with significant implications for global supply chain economics.

Saudi Arabia Licorice Extract Market Size

The Saudi Arabia licorice extract market represents 24.6% of the Middle East & Africa regional market in 2026, equivalent to US$ 19.38 Million, driven by domestic demand for licorice-flavoured confectionery and herbal wellness products distributed through modern retail channels including Panda Retail Company outlets and specialty health stores.

Saudi Vision 2030's healthcare localisation agenda is encouraging domestic pharmaceutical ingredient sourcing, which creates a forward signal for licorice extract import substitution as Saudi-based nutraceutical manufacturers scale capacity by the late 2020s.

UAE Licorice Extract Market Size

The UAE licorice extract market represents 8.7% of the Middle East & Africa regional market in 2026, equivalent to US$ 6.85 Million, reflecting Dubai's role as a re-export and distribution hub for licorice extract shipments transiting to South Asian, North African, and East African end-markets.

Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC) has actively developed its food ingredients trading ecosystem since 2022, and licorice extract volumes clearing through DMCC bonded warehouses are expected to grow as the UAE consolidates its position as the region's primary botanical ingredient logistics gateway.

Competitive Landscape

The global licorice extract market operates as a moderately fragmented competitive landscape, with Mafco Worldwide LLC (part of World Earth Brands Group) and Norevo GmbH holding the strongest positions in pharmaceutical- and food-grade supply to Western multinational buyers, while Shaanxi Fujie Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. competes aggressively on price-to-purity ratios in Asian markets. The dominant strategic theme across leading players is vertical integration from root sourcing to certified-extract delivery, as traceability documentation is now a procurement prerequisite for regulated-industry buyers.

Beijing Gingko Group represents the most disruptive entrant dynamic, applying biotechnology-assisted extraction efficiency to compress costs below conventional solvent-extraction incumbents. Winners are separating from laggards primarily through pharmacopoeia-compliant quality certifications and dual-use product ranges that address food and pharmaceutical buyers simultaneously.

Companies Covered in Licorice Extract Market

• Ransom Naturals Ltd
• Glycyrrhiza Glabra Co., Ltd
• Norevo GmbH
• Mafco Worldwide LLC (Part of World Earth Brands Group)
• Shaanxi Fujie Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
• Zagros Licorice Co.
• Beijing Gingko Group
• F&C Licorice Ltd.
• E. Roeper GmbH
• Maruzen Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.
• Indena S.p.A.
• Minophagen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
• Magnasweet (MAFCO)
• VPL Chemicals (India)
• Sepidan Osareh Co.

Market Segmentation

By Product Type

• Food Grade
• Feed Grade
• Pharmaceutical Grade

By Form

• Powder
• Liquid
• Block

By Application

• Food & Beverages
• Pharmaceutical
• Tobacco
• Others

Regions

• North America
• Europe
• East Asia
• South Asia & Oceania
• Latin America
• Middle East & Africa