BlueOcean NutraSciences and Long Lane Canada sign technology marketing agreement
To introduce vegetarian AlgaOmega oil to the Indian market
Canadian speciality nutraceutical oil products company BlueOcean NutraSciences has signed a technology marketing agreement with Long Lane Canada with the aim of introducing BlueOcean's vegetarian AlgaOmega oil to the Indian market.
Under the agreement, Long Lane will exclusively market BlueOcean's algae production technology for the manufacture of AlgaOmega oil to large Indian nutraceutical and pharmaceutical companies.
As previously announced, BlueOcean has issued 3,750,000 Common Shares representing US$750,000 for the licence's initial upfront payment.
With India's rapidly growing economy creating a large and growing middle-class, the demand for health and wellness products such as omega-3 oils is growing.
According to Frost & Sullivan, India's retail nutraceutical market, growing at a CAGR of 16%, is forecast to be worth US$5bn next year, of which approximately one third will be dietary supplements. Omega-3 fatty acids only comprise 5% of the dietary supplements market in India due in large part to omega-3 supplements primarily being fish oil based, yet India has the largest vegetarian population in the world, accounting for 30% of the country's population of 1.3 billion.
The challenge for the omega-3 market in India is the source and supply of vegetarian omega-3 ingredients
The challenge for the omega-3 market in India is the source and supply of vegetarian omega-3 ingredients, which currently come from low quality flax seed oil and only a few algal based omega-3 ingredient suppliers. Thus, the opportunity exists for BlueOcean's high quality, low cost AlgaOmega oil to enter this market.
'BlueOcean's strategy of forming partnerships with large strategics to commercialise its AlgaOmega oil lends itself perfectly to the Indian market where many of the large nutraceutical and pharmaceutical ingredient manufacturers have identified the vegetarian omega-3 market as a high growth opportunity,' said BlueOcean's CEO, Gavin Bogle.
Ken Patel, CFO of Long Lane, added: 'Long Lane has a track record of sourcing high quality nutraceutical and pharmaceutical ingredients in India, and introducing BlueOcean's AlgaOmega oil fits perfectly with Long Lane clients' vision for the Indian omega-3 supplements market.'
AlgaOmega oil is a vegetarian, non-GMO omega-3 algal oil containing high levels of EPA with DHA and is targeted at the rapidly growing omega-3 algal oil ingredient market that is currently valued at $500m and growing at 14% CAGR.
