Recently, the COVID-19 reemerged in the cities of Shaoxing, Ningbo, and Hangzhou of Zhenjiang province in China. In repercussion, the Shangyu District authority of Shaoxing City issued a set of instructions stating suspension of all industrial operations within the district to restrict the spread of COVID in the eastern provinces of China. The authorities further released a statement regarding the suspension of all operations in non-chemical enterprises along with restricting feed for chemical facilities including any kind of maintenance work. Currently, the decision will likely impact numerous Nutraceuticals and downstream manufacturing facilities including BSM, YongNong Biosciences Ltd., Nutrichem & Yinbang, NHU, Sinochem Lantian, etc.

The curtailed operations in some major Nutraceutical facilities will likely to tightened the domestic supply of numerous human and animal nutrition products. However, the impact is majorly concentrated on Biotin, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Coenzyme Q10, Lycopene, Lutein, and Beta-Carotene. A major downstream player stated that the supply is likely to be tight for the short term and the producer's quotations will significantly rise at the domestic and spot market in China. In the third quarter, the Neutraceutical sector is marly impacted by the seasonal maintenance turnarounds, which further coupled with the energy crisis due to the coal shortages across China led to a significant increment in the prices of numerous Nutraceutical products. The current offers for Vitamin E and Biotin in December were soared by 8.62% and 47.88% compared to the third quarter of 2021. Whereas, the export offers were hiked proportionally while crossing the USD 20,000 per 40 ft container mark in August end. In response, it strengthened the wait-and-see sentiment amongst the domestic and overseas buyers, with dull market transactions in Q3 2021.

As per ChemAnalyst,  the curtailment of the available supply of Nutraceutical products in China will drive the pricing competitiveness amongst the producers in the domestic market. Therefore, it is anticipated that the impact of the pressurized supply outlook of Biotin, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Coenzyme Q10, Lycopene, Lutein, and Beta-Carotene will likely further soared the quotations of products in the Chinese domestic market.