Currently available estimates of the number of facilities and firms that supply raw materials and manufacture DS products cover a broad range. The Nutrition Business Journal estimates that in 1997, 150 raw material manufacturers and over 1,000 growers and harvesters supplied raw materials to the industry and 1,050 manufacturers produced finished DS products (see Figure 1-1). The Council for Responsible Nutrition (CRN) estimates that between 800 and 1,400 raw material suppliers and manufacturers serve the market. These estimates are similar to the estimate of over 1,100 DS raw material and manufacturing firms that are members of the five major DS trade organizations. This may be an overstatement to the extent that some firms belong to multiple organizations but an understatement to the extent that some firms belong to none of the organizations.
RTI compiled information on plants and firms in the DS industry in the Dietary Supplement Enhanced Establishment Database (DS-EED). To the extent that data are available, the records contain information such as name and location of facilities, DS product type, facility type (manufacturer, ingredient supplier, repackager/relabeler/encapsulator, importer, exporter), other product types manufactured, sales, employment, SIC codes, NAICS and international codes. The sources of this information include the following:
After deleting duplicate records from these sources, 2,026 facilities remained in the DS-EED. Of these 2,026 facilities, 1,978 are located in the United States, 42 are located in Canada, and 6 are located in Puerto Rico.
In Section 3.1, we describe the characteristics of the facilities in the DS-EED. In Section 3.2, we describe financial data for the DS industry.
3.1 Facility Characteristics
The facilities in the DS-EED are characterized by facility type, product type, and other products produced. Each of these characteristics is described below.
The facility type indicates whether a facility manufactures, distributes, imports, exports, repackages, relabels, or encapsulates DS products or whether a facility provides raw ingredients to the industry. Table 3-1 provides frequencies for each facility type. Because a facility may be involved in more than one activity, the frequencies add up to greater than the total number of facilities in the database.
Table 3-1. DS Facility Type Frequencies
Facility Type | Number of Facilities | Percentage of Facilities |
Manufacturer |
1,555 |
78.6% |
Input supplier |
316 |
16.0% |
Repackager, relabeler, or encapsulator |
347 |
17.5% |
Distributor |
268 |
13.5% |
Importer |
209 |
10.6% |
Exporter |
340 |
17.2% |
Source: Dietary Supplement Enhanced Establishment Database (DS-EED), as obtained March 24, 1999. |
More than 78 percent of the facilities in the DS-EED are manufacturers of DS products. Sixteen percent of the facilities provide raw ingredients; 17 percent repack, relabel, or encapsulate products; and 13 percent distribute products. More plants export products (17 percent) versus import products (11 percent).
The product type indicates the type of DS produced or handled by each facility. Table 3-2 provides frequencies for each facility type. Vitamins and minerals, which are grouped together because facilities nearly always produce both in combination, are produced or handled by more than half (54 percent) of the facilities. Facilities that produce or handle herbals and botanicals follow at 43 percent. Herbal and botanical extracts, which are a subset of herbals and botanicals, are produced or handled by 14 percent of facilities. Teas follow at 10 percent, amino acids at 9 percent, proteins at 4 percent, and animal extracts at 2 percent. Concentrates, metabolites, and constituents are produced or handled at 4 percent of plants, but this figure may not represent the true total because the industry directories used to compile the DS-EED did not provide sufficient
Table 3-2. DS Product Type Frequencies
Product Type | Number of Facilitiesa | Percentage of Facilities |
Vitamins and Minerals |
1,066 |
53.9% |
Herbals and Botanicals |
850 |
43.0% |
Herbal and Botanical Extracts |
273 |
13.8% |
Animal Extracts |
34 |
1.7% |
Amino Acids |
186 |
9.4% |
Proteins |
87 |
4.4% |
Tea |
200 |
10.1% |
Concentrates, Metabolites, and Constituents |
80 |
4.0% |
Other Supplements |
602 |
30.4% |
a The record source for 372 facilities did not indicate any product types.
Source: Dietary Supplement Enhanced Establishment Database (DS-EED), as obtained March 24, 1999. |
detail to identify these products. Similarly, nearly 19 percent of facility records indicate no product types, which is also due to insufficient detail in the industry directories. Table 3-3 further breaks out product type by facility type for comparison across facility types.
Other products produced indicates whether a facility produces foods and/or drugs in addition to dietary supplements. Table 3-4 provides frequencies of facilities producing each of these other product types. Approximately 21 percent of facilities also produce foods and 17 percent also produce drugs.
3.2 DS Financial Data
Future versions of the DS-EED will likely contain more information on sales and employment at individual facilities than is available from industry directories. Once this information becomes available, it will be possible to characterize DS facilities based on sales volumes and employment. In addition, parent company information can be used to categorize DS companies as small or large.
The U.S. Small Business Administration (1997) size definitions for the most relevant SIC codes are the following:
Table 3-3. Frequencies of DS Product Types Produced at Each Facility Typea
Manu-facturer | Input Supplier |
Repackager/ Relabeler/ Encapsulator |
Distributor | Importer | Exporter | Number of Facilities | |
Vitamins and Minerals | 857 | 147 | 198 | 171 | 98 | 197 | 1,066 |
Herbals & Botanicals | 647 | 184 | 237 | 186 | 140 | 198 | 850 |
Herbal and Botanical Extracts | 209 | 115 | 85 | 53 | 59 | 71 | 273 |
Animal Extracts | 28 | 3 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 34 |
Amino Acids | 153 | 32 | 39 | 28 | 23 | 49 | 186 |
Teas | 156 | 46 | 53 | 43 | 41 | 43 | 200 |
Proteins | 80 | 14 | 16 | 12 | 10 | 19 | 87 |
Concentrates, Metabolites, and Constituents | 67 | 17 | 26 | 11 | 8 | 17 | 80 |
Other Supplements | 528 | 88 | 106 | 53 | 61 | 108 | 602 |
Number of Facilities | 1,555 | 316 | 347 | 268 | 209 | 340 | |
a Facilities may be of multiple types and may produce multiple products.
Source: Dietary Supplement Enhanced Establishment Database (DS-EED), as obtained March 24, 1999. |
Table 3-4. Frequencies of Other Products Produced at DS Facilities
Other Products | Number of Facilities | Percentage of Facilities |
Foods |
414 |
20.9% |
Drugs |
339 |
17.1% |
Source: Dietary Supplement Enhanced Establishment Database (DS-EED), as obtained March 24, 1999. |
Based on these definitions, it is likely that the majority of firms in the DS industry will be considered small.
The Nutrition Business Journal provides sales information for the largest DS manufacturers. These sales data include only supplements rather than sales of all products produced by each company. Table 3-5 lists supplement sales for the top 15 manufacturers. Additional information on the facilities owned by these companies is available in the DS-EED.
Table 3-5. Top 15 Dietary Supplement Manufacturers, 1997
Manufacturer |
Location |
Supplement Sales ($ million) |
Leiner Health Products | Carson, CA | 425 |
Pharmavite | San Fernando, CA | 340 |
American Home Products |
Madison, NJ |
325 |
Rexall Sundown | Boca Raton, FL | 291 |
NBTY | Bohemia, NY | 281 |
General Nutrition Companies | Pittsburgh, PA | 260 |
Weider Nutrition Group | Salt Lake City, UT | 219 |
Twin Laboratories | Hauppauge, NY | 213 |
Abbott Labs | Columbus, OH | 170 |
Perrigo | Allegan, MI | 152 |
Solgar Vitamin & Herb Company | Hackensack, NJ | 120 |
Bayer Corporation | Pittsburgh, PA | 110 |
IVC Industries | Freehold, NJ | 109 |
Experimental & Applied Sciences | Golden, CO | 108 |
Nature's Way Products | Springville, UT | 100 |
Source: Nutrition Business International. September 1998. "$23 Billion and Counting: Nutrition Industry Braces for a Competitive Future." 3(9):1-5, 13, 18. |