Lactose Is a Booming Market

You think lactose is found is too many items today? Just wait.

Global Industry Analysts, Inc., a market trend analysis firm that writes fact-heavy reports and peddles them at extremely high prices to those who positively, absolutely have to be first to know what the financial weather is going to be like tomorrow, has just published "Lactose: A Global Strategic Business Report."

It's $3850.

Tell you what. If 3850 of you donate a dollar each, I'll buy the report and tell you all its secrets.

In the meantime, you'll have to be satisfied with these tidbits from the press release.

Lactose is produced from whey, a by-product of the cheese-making process. Lactose finds application in pharmaceuticals, food & beverages, confectionery and animal feed industries. Edible grade lactose is utilized in fine chemical applications, production of infant formulae, confectionery and food products. Pharmaceutical grade lactose is employed as a pharmaceutical excipient. Inhalation-grade lactose, which accounts for a minor share of the pharmaceutical lactose market, is expected to receive a boost as pharma companies increasingly develop new inhaled drug delivery therapies.

Lactose market in United States is estimated at $192 million for 2008, as stated by Global Industry Analysts, Inc. North America, Europe and Asia, collectively account for 92 percent of the global lactose market. Global consumption of lactose in food industry is estimated at $286 million for 2008. Lactose consumption in confectionery industry is projected to register a CAGR [Compound Annual Growth Rate] of over 4% through 2010.

Those of you who keep writing to me complaining about the use of lactose in medications are going to have to start making your complaints direct to the pharmaceutical industry. Looks like lactose will be in far more products rather than fewer.

Now, as a aside: The weird part, for those few of you who notice when the math in an article is wrong, is the prediction that:

Backed by consistent demand from end-use industries such as food, beverages, confectionery, pharmaceuticals and animal feed, market for lactose is projected to reach a value of $762.7 million by 2012.

What market? The U.S. market? The global market? Even if you assume the latter, that's a 167% increase in only four years, or 27.79% compounded annually. Why talk about a measly 4% increase per year if you have that kind of growth happening?

And what's with the lack of articles in the article? Lactose market is... market for lactose is... Was this translated from Russian?

Incompetence, illiteracy, innumeracy, and bad news, all rolled up into a single press release. You know, it's been that kind of week.