Corn Starch, also known as Native Corn Starch, refers to a white, odorless powder carbohydrate that is generally used as a key ingredient in the food processing industries. The escalating demand for Corn starch in the food and beverage industry is to prepare food related products such as condiments, soups, gravies, sugars, syrup etc. Corn starch is also the major component of the manufacture of industrial adhesives, anti-sticking agents, textile manufacturing and pharmaceutical industries. The variety of applications that corn starch serves has allowed the demand for corn starch to escalate each year.
In 2021, the global native corn starch market was estimated to be worth USD 5776 million. The market is expected to increase at a CAGR of approximately 5.4% between 2022 and 2027, reaching a value of roughly USD 8294 million by 2027, credits to the thriving food and beverage industry.
The major corn starch producing country, North America, has kept on increasing their production of corn starch to be able to meet up with the demand in the global market. Indonesia is one of the countries with a high demand for corn starch which imported $123 million worth of corn starch in 2020, making it the world’s top importer. Corn starch was the 222nd most imported product in Indonesia in the same year which was mostly imported from China ($86.9 million), India ($25 million), Ukraine ($5.21 million), Turkey ($2.21 million), and Singapore ($1.12 million). Corn imports are predicted to increase to 1.1 MMT and 1.2 MMT in 2021/22 and 2022/23, respectively, due to rising demand from the growing food processing and food service sectors.
Beside importing, Indonesia also exported $15.8M corn starch in 2020, making it the 17th largest exporter of corn starch in the world. In the same year, corn starch was the 813th most exported product in Indonesia. The main destinations of corn starch exports from Indonesia are: Philippines ($10.7M), Malaysia ($2.01M), Vietnam ($1.51M), Thailand ($1.11M), and Chinese Taipei ($221k). The fastest growing export markets for corn starch in Indonesia between 2019 and 2020 were Philippines ($1.64M), Malaysia ($1.36M), and Thailand ($485k).