Why is China's domestic annatto production capacity lagging despite established national standards?

Why is China's domestic annatto production capacity lagging despite established national standards?
China's Yunnan province has grown annatto trees since the 1960s, with good adaptability: no major freeze damage even at 1.9°C, low pest pressure, and yields of 675-900 kg of seeds per hectare. Extraction rates run 2-4%, and trees produce for years with minimal care. Yet domestic capacity has not matched regulatory approval. The bottleneck is downstream industrialization—most Chinese color houses still import refined annatto or rely on overseas suppliers like those in Brazil and India. Local producers face higher purification costs to meet food-grade specs, especially for water-soluble norbixin forms. Meanwhile, global majors dominate premium segments. Bridging this gap requires investment in solvent extraction and hydrolysis lines, plus quality consistency that meets both GB2760 and export standards.