Infant Formula Market: A Rough Analysis

As I cannot afford to order a professional analysis of the baby food market at this time, I figured now would be a good time to put together my findings from the web in the form of a short article. I'm going to attempt to answer these questions:

• How big is the infant food industry?
• What portion of the infant food industry constitutes infant formula powders and liquid concentrates?
• Approximately, how many actual end users make up the target market?
• What are some ethical concerns revolving around this industry that we should attempt to address?

How big is the industry?

According to an article found on European site Nutra Ingredient the infant formula industry is just a portion of the overall US ethical nutrition market which grossed approximately $9.1 billion in 2001. This market is in fact dominated by the infant formula segment which made up 39.1% of total market revenues in 2001. The market for infant formula is expected to grow at a rate of approximately 6% and reach $4.9 billion in yearly revenue by 2006.

US demand is primarily supplied by 3 firms: Ross, Mead Johnson (includes Gerber), Wyeth (includes PBM), and Carnation. As of the year 2000 Mead Johnson holds the majority of market share at 52%. Carnation holds the least market mindshare with only 7%. However, it is important to note that Carnation is relatively new to the US market compared to it's competition.