Sales of herbal dietary supplements fell for the first time in almost two decades, according to a report by the American Botanical Council (ABC). 

ABC released its annual Herb Market Report, which was distributed in the Spring 2024 edition of its HerbalGram periodical. 

The report covers 2022. It includes data from Chicago-based market research firm SPINS and numbers from Informa Markets’ Nutrition Business Journal. The report covers both mass market and natural channels. 

American consumers spent $12.12 billion on herbal supplements in 2022, compared to $12.35 billion in 2021. It was the first time the report showed annual sales had fallen over the previous year since 2003. ABC has been compiling the report since 2000. 

The sales decline, which was not completely unexpected, came on the heels of several years of strong growth, driven partly by pandemic-related market distortions. The 2021 sales figure represented a 9.7% increase over 2020, when American consumers spent $11.26 on herbal supplements. That figure was a 17.3% increase over 2019. 

In fact, the market report has shown sales rising by at least 5.5% or more annually since 2012. 

While 2022 was not business as usual, the report noted that some readjustment after the pandemic was to be expected. 

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“In the first three years of the Covid-19 pandemic, total U.S. sales of herbal supplements experienced both the highest sales growth and the only sales decline in almost two decades. Reduced sales in 2022 reflect an expected return to more typical consumer spending on herbal supplements as the pandemic waned,” the report stated. 

CBD sales show continued steep decline 

Among individual herbal categories, several important trends emerged. One was the continued erosion of CBD product sales. In 2022, in the natural channel, CBD products racked up $33.67 million in sales, a 15.3% decline from the year before. The figure for the mainstream channel was $14.05 million, which represented a 29.3% decline. 

The 2021 sales figures for CBD in the two channels represented steep declines from 2020. In that year, American consumers spent $57.21 million on CBD products in the natural channel and $26.55 in mainstream outlets.  

The apple cider vinegar craze seems to be crashing as well. Sales for this ingredient in the mainstream channel were $79.26 million in 2020, rising to $178.38 the next year. In 2022, however, sales fell to $126.35 million. 

Apple cider vinegar has always been an ingredient that sells far more robustly in the mainstream channel, but health food store sales showed a similar trend: $3.6 million in 2020, $7.69 million in 2021, then back down to $4.4 million in 2022. 

Natural channel losing out to mainstream 

There is evidence of channel switching in the sales figures of some top-selling botanical ingredients. For example, turmeric sales in the mainstream channel rose from $111.66 million 2021 to $123.07 million 2022, representing a 6.9% increase. But turmeric sales fell in the natural channel in the same period, going from $38.93 in 2021 to $35.77 in 2022. 

Ashwagandha sales tell a similar story. In the mainstream channel, sales rose from $92.33 million in 2021 to $110.97 in 2022. In the natural channel, sales were down 1.3% in 2022 to around $17.7 million.