작성일자: 2013.4.23

작성자: 쿠알라룸푸르 무역관 박건원 (gunwony@kotra.or.kr)

1. Demand for Low-calorie and Sugar Free Xylitol triple candy in Malaysia

 ○ The demand for the low-calorie and sugar free Xylitol triple candy in Malaysia is considered bright as generally Malaysian prefers sweet taste and the number of diabetics is increasing.

 ○ Malaysia has the highest rate of diabetes in the region.

 ○ A study by the Ministry of Health in 2011 revealed that one out of five people above the age of 30 suffer from diabetes. As of 2011, 2.6 million Malaysians have diabetes (about 9% of the population). This is more than double the number within the last decade. Half of them went undiagnosed. The population in Malaysia was recorded as 28.96 million in 2011 and 29.34 million in 2012.

 ○ It is predicted that there will be 4.5 million diabetics in Malaysia above the age of 18 by 2020.

 ○ According to Malaysian Endocrine and Metabolic Society(MEMS) president Professor Dr Nor Azmi Kamaruddin, the number of diabetics is projected to increase rapidly in parallel with the doubling of the obesity rate in the population.

 ○ Besides, Malaysia is leading in the prevalence of obesity among Southeast Asian countries. Almost one in two Malaysians are either overweight or obese, placing them at a high risk for diabetes.

 ○ From the National Health and Morbidity Surveys, 15.1% of Malaysians aged 18 and above were suffering from obesity as of 2011. This is an increase from the 14% figure of the same demographic in 2006. It was also reported that over 2.6 million adults were obese while over 477,000 children below the age of 18 years were overweight.

 ○ There are increasing numbers of sugar free candy such as hard candy, rock candy etc in Malaysian market. Among the popular brands are GoLightly, GoNaturally, Ricola and Sticky.

 ○ Sugar free mints are popular too in Malaysia. Among the brands are Eclipse, Extra, Everest and Smint.

 ○ For Xylitol, it’s more common as sugar free gum which could help to prevent tooth decay. Some of the popular brands in Malaysia are Extra and Mentos.

Source: KBC KL, various

 ○ While the popular flavours are spearmint, peppermint, fruit, lemon, strawberry and blackcurrant.

 ○ Malaysian has the sweet tooth can also be seen from the growing candy stores. One of the largest candy store in Asia; Candylicious has already established two outlets in Malaysia(KLCC and One Utama) and it aims to open one store each year. The store features 5,000 types of candy and chocolate and a colourful assortment of stationery, apparel, household items and ornaments.

Source: Candylicious (http://candyliciousshop.com/)

 ○ Demand for the sugar free candy is determined by many different factors other than price such as the quality, attractive packaging in English, Halal certification from JAKIM (http://www.islam.gov.my), effective marketing and promotion strategies and place to get the candy (eg: convenience store, supermarket chains, retail pharmacy chain like Gurdian and Watson etc).

 ○ Prospect for Xylnosu’s Xylitol candy is good in the market but it would take some time in marketing and promoting a new product in order for the customer to familiarise with Xylnosu’s Xylitol brand as a candy that can lower the calories by 35%. Marketing as sugar free candy/mints and prevent tooth decay have been commonly used by other brands.

 ○ Malaysian has well accepted ‘Equal’ due to its promotion and marketing as the low calories sweetener and great sugar-like taste.

Source: Equal Malaysia (http://www.equalasiapacific.com/en/Malaysia/)