S&W and Ingredion have Signed a Supply Agreement for Stevia in the United States

S&W Seed Company (Nasdaq: SANW), a leading global provider of ingredient solutions to the food and beverage industry, and Ingredion Incorporated, a leading global provider of ingredient solutions to the food and beverage industry, declared today that they have entered into an exclusive U.S. stevia pilot production supply agreement. Under the terms of the deal, S&W will employ its proprietary stevia plant portfolio and manufacturing techniques to provide high-quality, U.S.-sourced stevia plants to Ingredion and its PureCircle by Ingredion group of companies.

In the words of Mark Wong, CEO of S&W Seed Company, over the past ten years, S&W has generated unique, non-GMO, all-natural stevia varieties through their proprietary plant breeding method. Recently, they validated the efficacy of stevia manufacturing in the southern United States, which they feel is a huge step forward.

They intend to cut overall production costs drastically by utilising a revolutionary seed-to-plant method and mechanised harvesting technology. More importantly, this approach allows stevia to act as a green cover crop, assisting carbon sequestration. They are thrilled to embark on this pilot production supply deal with PureCircle, the world's biggest stevia component supplier, to confirm and improve their current capabilities.

Ingredion's chief innovation officer and senior vice president, Jeremy Xu, stated that expanding the supply of sustainably sourced stevia in the United States increases the clients' capacity to deliver sugar reduction solutions. This arrangement with S&W will enable them to assess the long-term feasibility of producing considerable amounts of stevia in the United States.

Stevia is a zero-calorie, natural-source sweetener up to 350 times sweeter than sugar and is used in over 30,000 food and beverage items worldwide. According to LEK and Ingredion's research studies, the worldwide stevia market will rise to USD 1.6 billion by 2028. Most stevia is currently grown outside of the United States, owing to historical climatic and harvesting limits.

Ingredion's stevia company has seen three crucial developments in the previous 14 months, and this collaboration is the third. Ingredion purchased a majority position in PureCircle (now PureCircle by Ingredion) last July. The company launched a cooperative venture with Amyris to exclusively supply Fermented Sugarcane Reb M as part of its enlarged stevia line.

PureCircle by Ingredion is the sole stevia ingredient provider that offers all main stevia manufacturing methods (stevia from extraction, fermentation and bioconversion). Ingredion, which makes stevia sweeteners and taste modifiers, continues to invest in the future of sugar reduction innovation.

Ingredion Incorporated (INGR) is a prominent worldwide ingredient solutions supplier with clients in over 120 countries. It is located in the Chicago suburbs. The company transforms grains, fruits, vegetables, and other plant-based resources into value-added ingredient solutions for the food, beverage, animal nutrition, brewing, and industrial industries, with annual net sales of USD 6 billion in 2020.

Ingredion co-creates with consumers and accomplishes its objective of bringing the potential of people, nature, and technology together to make life better through its 32 Idea Labs® innovation centres across the world and about 12,000 workers. On the other hand, S&W Seed Company is a seed company based in the United States. S&W Seed Corporation, based in Longmont, Colorado, was founded in 1980 and is a global agricultural company.

S&W aims to become the world's preferred proprietary seed firm, providing a variety of forage and speciality crop products to meet the expanding worldwide need for animal proteins and better consumer diets. S&W is a global leader in sorghum proprietary alfalfa and pasture seeds with extensive research and development, manufacturing, and distribution capabilities. S&W's product range also includes hybrid sunflower and wheat. The firm is developing and manufacturing stevia, an all-natural, zero-calorie sweetener for the food and beverage sector, using its research and breeding expertise.