Global Custard Apple Pulp Market 2025 – 2034

Reports Description

As per the Custard Apple Pulp Market analysis conducted by the CMI Team, the global Custard Apple Pulp market is expected to record a CAGR of 8% from 2025 to 2034. In 2025, the market size is projected to reach a valuation of USD 85.2 Million. By 2034, the valuation is anticipated to reach USD 165.7 Million.

Overview

The custard apple pulp market is steadily moving ahead due to increased demand realized by the various products used in the food and beverage, nutraceutical, and industrial/institutional applications. The Food & Beverage segment dominates the market, as custard apple pulp remains prominent in juices and smoothies, as a primary ingredient in desserts, and ready-to-drink beverages as a natural flavour and health benefit. In low-intervention food processing, frozen pulp and aseptic pulp are the most prominent growth types because of convenience and extended shelf life and are available to satisfy the consumer demand in global markets.

In the Nutraceuticals segment, freeze-dried powder and concentrated pulp continue to increase as the easiest method to incorporate custard apple pulp in dietary supplements and functional foods. These different methods highlight the continued health benefits of custard apple pulp as a source of antioxidants and will attract the health-focused consumer.
The Industrial/Institutional segment is stable and growing more slowly in comparison to food usage in bulk food processing applications. The use of organic custard apple pulp is increasing as clean-label organic products become more prevalent.

Key Trends & Drivers                                                                                                  

The Custard Apple Pulp Market Trends present significant growth opportunities due to several factors:

• Emphasis on Natural and Clean-Label Foods: As consumers demand transparency and naturally sourced ingredients, clean-label products are growing in popularity. Custard apple pulp is a naturally sweet raw material product with several nutritional attributes that is closely aligned with the clean label movement, especially in food and beverage products. It has been shown that there is a consumer preference towards organic and minimally processed products, driving demand for organic custard apple pulp, especially where consumers are seeking healthier, plant-based, and more environmentally friendly purchases.

• The Rise of Functional Foods: With the growing interest around health and wellness, consumers are consuming many functional and labelled products to provide an additional health benefit. Custard apple pulp is very rich in antioxidants and dietary fibre and is being used in nutraceuticals and functional drinks. Products are emerging in the functional drinks and dietary supplement powder segment that are providing consumer demand for custard apple pulp, especially in the drinks segment, which continues to be lucrative in subsequent years.

• Emergence of E-commerce Distribution: The growing boom of e-commerce is fundamentally changing the distribution channels for niche food products like custard apple pulp. As more and more consumers turn to e-commerce for specialty products, especially via online retail options, companies are also developing their online channels. The emergence of e-commerce for custard apple pulp is increasing available in access and revenue opportunities, particularly internationally, where there are no traditional distributors.

• Increasing Health Consciousness: Consumers are becoming more health-conscious, looking to eat natural and nutrient-dense foods. Custard apple pulp is regarded as a good, healthy option, given low calories, high antioxidants, and immune-supportive properties. Increased demand is mainly evident among the nutraceutical and functional food drivers of demand.

• Rising Demand for Plant-based Ingredients: Diets are increasingly shifting to plant-based lifestyles, while demand for fruit-based products, including custard apple pulp, is on the rise. With the rise in popularity of plant-based varieties across diverse industries, including food, beverage, and supplements, custard apple pulp is a favorite choice thanks to its diverse usage options and natural appeal.

• Improved technologies for processing and storage: The advancement of processing technologies like aseptic packing and freezing has also helped to improve the nature in which custard apple pulp is stored and distributed globally. The quality level and extended shelf life enable the marketplace to ultimately cater to growing international demand while protecting product integrity. Improved logistics and storage and valued food preservation methods also contribute to supporting the market to grow.

Significant Challenges

The Custard Apple Pulp market faces several significant Challenges that could impact its growth and profitability in the future. Some of these Challenges include:

• Supply Chain and Storage Constraints: Custard apple pulp is very much affected by its perishable nature. Timely harvesting, processing, and storage of custard apples can be difficult, especially in places where cold storage is not available. This inefficiency in the supply chain impacts the custard apple pulp’s availability and price in international markets. In addition, the highly inconsistent supply during the off-season means market stability is hindered due to price rises and reduced export and other opportunities.

• High Processing Costs: Proper processing of custard apple pulp carries a notoriously high cost due to investment in specialized, extractive equipment with the specific aim of taking away the seeds and preserving the natural taste of the fruit. Since production costs are high, custard apple pulp is an expensive food product compared to other fruit pulps. The small-scale producer in custard apples can’t keep pace with the emerging demand for new high-quality custard apple pulp, reducing the competitive nature of the custard apple pulp market and very quickly marking its limits relative to scale, which restricts growth in the market.

Opportunities

• Emergent Health and Wellness Trends: The increase in health awareness has resulted in a higher demand for natural, plant-based, and nutrient-rich ingredients in food, beverages, and nutraceuticals. Custard apple pulp, a highly antioxidant, dense, and fibrous fruit, is well placed to exploit this trend. Custard apple has numerous health benefits, including aiding immunity and digestion, and is a versatile ingredient for functional foods, dietary supplements, and beverages, thus providing a range of market entry opportunities.

• Expansion into Emerging Markets: Emerging markets are spurring emerging global demand for exotic and functional fruit ingredients, including custard apple pulp. Emerging markets, particularly in Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, continue to show– if developing interest– in novel food products. As consumer awareness keeps rising, custard apple pulp represents an attractive opportunity for market development in these global markets and worldwide–especially with increased access to e-commerce and retail chain products.

Category Wise Insights

By Application

• Food & Beverage: Custard apple pulp is a common ingredient in ice creams, milkshakes, yogurts, desserts, and jams on account of the pulp’s creamy mouthfeel and natural sweetness. This segment is the largest in terms of volume consumed, especially in the Asia Pacific. Foodservice chains, dairy processors, and ingredient suppliers are adding custard apple pulp to their seasonal and value-added products in India, the UAE, and Southeast Asia, which has created a consistent level of institutional demand for the pulp. This segment has also benefited from the momentum towards tropical fruit flavors in the ready-to-eat and ready-to-drink categories across retail and HoReCa outlets.

• Nutraceuticals: This segment is experiencing rapid growth owing to increasing consumer interest in natural food products, including fruit-based products with antioxidant activity. The custard apple pulp is a source of vitamin C, magnesium, and dietary fibre, making it suitable for baby foods, fruit purees, and wellness beverages. Powdered and concentrated formats of custard apple pulp are becoming popular components in various nutrition formulations aimed at pediatric and geriatric segments. The regulatory preferences for clean-label and non-GMO certified products in North America and European Union countries give custard apple pulp an opportunity to be used in fortified foods and digestive health applications, allowing manufacturers a route to marketing custard apple pulp with health benefits to niche health-conscious targets.

• Industrial-institutional: The industrial-institutional segment covers bulk supply of custard apple pulp to HoReCa (hotels, restaurants, caterers), food service vendors, and processed food producers. Demand depends mainly on the reliability of quality, the year-round availability, and the practicality of use in culinary contexts. Frozen and aseptic containers are preferred by institutional buyers who need to keep microbial risk low and very long shelf lives. The main demand centers will be metro cities, industrial kitchens, and airline-style catering units. That said, where there is a strong cold chain infrastructure, for example, in large markets like the Middle East and South Asia, there is slightly stronger demand for institutional buying of custard apple pulp (both frozen and aseptic) in standardized formats.

By Product Type

• Frozen pulp: Frozen custard apple pulp is often kept to ensure maximum nutritional value and is still favoured by large users of custard apple pulp. Frozen custard apple pulp is understandable for ice cream, kulfi, and bakery applications. Pulp in frozen formats offers a 12-month shelf life without preservatives, and offers a lower risk for food producers exporting the pulp. Cold storage infrastructure is crucial for distributing frozen pulp, so it limits its reach for food producers in underdeveloped regions. It can be found and widely used in HoReCa and industrial kitchens in several markets like the UAE, India, and Malaysia because of the reliability of texture and flavour under frozen circumstances. A significant portion of custard apple uses ice cream (and kulfi) producers will also be using pre-prepared frozen custard apple pulp.

• Aseptic pulp: Aseptic pulp offers improved levels of thermal process engineering of sterilization by heating when packing and processing under sterile conditions for sales and long shelf life with no refrigeration needed. It is useful to beverage and baby food manufacturers and pre-packed dessert/book category food producers, once again for similar reasons (and cost savings by not adding sugar) of safety, stability, applicability, and because it can be used as water and in associative sensory products.

• Canned Pulp: Canned custard apple pulp is mainly used in traditional retail and institutional bulk food preservation situations. Although it is declining in popularity due to concerns over BPA and the perceived metallic taste and storage stability of canned foods over a lengthy time, this format is still a viable option in semi-urban markets and government-funded procurement programs (Syrup & canned). Canned products are inexpensive, convenient, and have a long shelf-life; thus, it is not particularly premium and stay relevant for public distribution channels.

• Freeze-Dried Powder: This format is particularly popular among nutraceutical, baby food, and functional nutrition markets. Freeze-drying allows for nutrient preservation while also minimizing weight and volume. Freeze-drying is perfect for export markets and online marketplaces. Indian and Southeast Asian manufacturers are working with premium health & nutrition brands in Europe and North America. The powder is also used in confectionery, smoothie blends, and for R&D as a clean-label ingredient for dietary supplement research because of its long shelf life.

• Concentrated Pulp: Concentrated custard apple pulp is essentially used in beverages, syrups, and desserts. Use of concentrated pulp enables manufacturers to facilitate storage and freight costs while preserving a robust flavored pulp. Concentrated pulp is the format of choice in commercial food processing, as reconstituting back to standard Brix levels is done for consistency. Demand has also increased in the Middle East, where powdered and concentrated pulp is now being used in juice blends.

• Organic Custard Apple Pulp: This niche sector is growing steadily, with global demand for organic-certified ingredients increasing. The pulp is sourced from pesticide-free farms and processed under organic-compliant standards. It is sold in premium baby food, natural ice creams, and wellness beverages. Demand for organic custard apple pulp in North America and Europe is substantial. They use the ingredients in products, utilizing stringent organic label compliance for future consumers as well as day-to-day consumers. Supply is restricted by not enough organic farms, either by converting conventional farms to organic, as a lack of farm availability makes this a high-margin, low-volume category.

• Conventional Custard Apple Pulp: Despite the growth of organic, conventional pulp is the largest segment in the industry by volume due to ease of availability and low acceptable prices across all sectors, foodservice, retail, and processing of food categories. While there are many options for conventional custard apple pulp, the segment is widely mixed or dispersed across many foodservice sectors across India, South Asia, and new or potential export markets such as the UAE and Sri Lanka, with wholesale pricing over factory or organic label concerns. Over the years, there have been improvements in processing and hygiene to enhance standards; however, there are no advancements of conventional products earning organic compliant label status. The segment represents stability of acceptance for institutional consumers and the tier retailer in the same countries listed above.

Impact of Recent Tariff Policies

The recent tariff policies have drastically affected the custard apple pulp market and influenced India’s export levels. India’s custard apple pulp export levels decreased 78% between September 2023 and August 2024, and it is clear that the export reductions largely stem from export barriers such as high agricultural tariffs and restrictions. The tariffs are large, with Indian tariffs averaging 114%, which are some of the highest agricultural tariffs in the world. The fact that India has high tariffs is a disadvantage when it comes to offering competitive prices against other suppliers of custard apple pulp. The United States also applied a 26% “discounted reciprocal tariff” on all products imported from India, which detrimentally impacted custard apple pulp exports. Both above-mentioned tariff restrictions are problematic for Indian suppliers and decrease their market opportunities in key destinations.

If stakeholders in the custard apple pulp market wish to respond to tariff challenges, they may wish to pursue diversification into regions with better market access and lower tariffs. In addition to possible diversification, support and advocacy for lower tariffs and stronger domestic agricultural policies could help lessen barriers to export competitiveness. To help manage which crops are being exported, foreign and domestic, through the supply chain, investment in production infrastructure for processing could also lessen the effect of high tariffs so that Indian custard apple pulp can remain competitive for international buyers.

Report Scope

Regional Analysis

The Custard Apple Pulp market is segmented into various regions, including North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. Here is a brief overview of each region:

• North America: The North American custard apple pulp market is experiencing moderate growth due to increasing consumer demand for exotic and health-oriented food products. The preference for natural and organic ingredient use in food and beverages provides an environment to promote custard apple pulp. Many food and beverage players in the industry, particularly in the United States, are increasingly using exotic fruits like custard apple in various product ranges; however, the limited amount of awareness and availability of custard apples in North America pose challenges to custard apple pulp adoption. Advancing the distribution of custard apple pulp products through e-commerce is expected to create distribution markets and improve market saturation levels in the market in the coming years.

• Europe: Europe’s custard apple pulp market growth is driven by an emerging consumer interest in functional foods and natural ingredients. European consumers are more supportive and willing to use plant-based, healthy, and organic food products, creating a strong market base for custard apple pulp in beverages, nutraceuticals, and desserts. Additionally, the high antioxidant and fibre content in custard apple pulp works with the ever-growing wellness trend. Although the market potential exists, challenges for the market include the perishable nature of custard apple fruit and the limited availability of custard apple farms located in Europe. Albeit, increased demand for exotic fruit ingredients is seen in both.

• Asia Pacific: The Asia-Pacific region is at the center of the global custard apple pulp landscape, since custard apples are grown more widely in this region than anywhere else, with India, the Philippines, and Thailand being the largest producers and consumers of custard apple pulp. In this region, custard apple pulp is used in different traditional sweet and savory products as well as beverages, snacks, and other products. Given the rise in health-conscious consumers, the demand for functional food and beverages made with custard apple pulp is also increasing. The growth of the middle-class population in Asia-Pacific is also contributing to growth, along with other distribution channels, including e-commerce. It still faces challenges of seasonality of supply and gaps in infrastructure within rural areas; however, substantial growth in demand continues.

• LAMEA (Latin America, Middle East, and Africa): LAMEA demand for custard apple pulp is rising as the interest in exotic fruits and their health benefits grows. The pulp is being included in functional beverages and health supplements in the Middle East and Africa, where demand for natural products has risen. The supply of custard apples is important in Latin America and attributed to agriculture-based culture, but the majority of countries are still in early stages in regard to processing and availability.

Key Developments

In recent years, the Custard Apple Pulp market has experienced several crucial changes as the players in the market strive to grow their geographical footprint and improve their product line and profits by using synergies.

• In September 2023, Emami Group acquired a 26% stake in Axiom Ayurveda, enabling the integration of fruit-based ingredients like custard apple pulp into its Ayurvedic offerings.

• In 2023, Frutteto expanded its export markets, offering frozen custard apple pulp in various packaging sizes and targeting international markets, including the Middle East and Europe.

• In 2023, American Specialty Foods Co. launched canned custard apple pulp in 2.5 kg and 850 g sizes, aiming to cater to the retail and foodservice sectors to meet the growing demand for exotic fruit ingredients.

• In 2022, ITC Limited launched ‘Sunfeast Wonderz’, a range of milk-based beverages incorporating real fruit pulp, including custard apple, initially rolled out in southern India to cater to the demand for healthier, ready-to-drink options.

These important changes facilitated the companies ability to widen their portfolios, to bolster their competitiveness, and to exploit the possibilities for growth available in the Custard Apple Pulp market. This phenomenon is likely to persist since most companies are struggling to outperform their rivals in the market.

Leading Players

The Custard Apple Pulp market is moderately competitive, with a large number of product providers globally. Some of the key players in the market include:

• Jas Enterprise
• Yesraj Enterprises
• Agrodelight Foods Private Limited
• Peony Food Products
• Easyproc Solutions Pvt Ltd
• Freeze O Fresh
• Novel Food Products
• Nasco Tender Coconut Pulp
• SBH Foods Pvt. Ltd.
• Smit Food
• Marco Food Products
• Sidco Foods
• GVEI
• F.M. International Trading Co. Ltd.
• Techno Pulp Processing Pvt. Ltd
• Madhu Kudumula
• Atharva International
• Shree Dutt Agro Food Products
• Varad Agro Foods
• Ganpati Food Processors
• Others

These companies implement a series of techniques to penetrate the market, such as innovations, mergers and acquisitions, and collaboration.

The market consists of large-scale processors and smaller processors and works, particularly in India, which is a significant producer and trader. Key competitors emphasize product innovation as well as improvements in quality and value and product offerings to cater to consumer interest in healthy food and beverages. The presence of many large global food companies and local suppliers creates a diverse, competitive landscape.

As the custard apple pulp market is fragmented, various businesses compete. First, strong product differentiation allows competitors to distinguish products using organic, minimally processed custard apple pulp. Second, competition for the pricing of custard apple pulp will limit competitors, and price will be important for customers, particularly in Asian regions. Large customers have begun to investigate opportunities in international markets to respond to customer demand for exotic fruits in Europe, North America, and emerging markets. Competition is based on the continuing trend of technological advancements in the processing, extraction, preservation, and stability of custard apple pulp products. It is the nature of the customer in this case, adjusted to educated consumers who will add custard apple pulp to their diets for health-based ingredients and have increased demand for custard apple pulps that are plant-based.

The Custard Apple Pulp Market is segmented as follows:

By Application

• Food & Beverage
• Nutraceuticals
• Industrial/Institutional

By Product Types

• Frozen Pulp
• Aseptic Pulp
• Canned Pulp
• Freeze-Dried Powder
• Concentrated Pulp
• Organic Custard Apple Pulp
• Conventional Custard Apple Pulp

Regional Coverage:

North America

• U.S.
• Canada
• Mexico
• Rest of North America

Europe

• Germany
• France
• U.K.
• Russia
• Italy
• Spain
• Netherlands
• Rest of Europe

Asia Pacific

• China
• Japan
• India
• New Zealand
• Australia
• South Korea
• Taiwan
• Rest of Asia Pacific

The Middle East & Africa

• Saudi Arabia
• UAE
• Egypt
• Kuwait
• South Africa
• Rest of the Middle East & Africa

Latin America

• Brazil
• Argentina
• Rest of Latin America