Every day we discover new and new food products that contain stevioside - the extract from stevia. Why? Is it true that businessmen are thinking about our health? Or they know anything else? Yes, they do! Beside all the other values, stevia extracts have economic advantage. Let us consider it on simple examples.

Costs:
1 kg of stevioside with the sweetness coefficient of 250 units costs 40 USD. It substitutes 250 kg of sugar that cost about 75 USD. Using stevioside, we save money. The factory, that consumes 5 tons of sugar monthly, saves 700 USD per month and up to 8400 USD per year.

Let us consider an example with stevia liquid extract or syrup with the sweetness coefficient of 60 units. Its cost is 10 USD per 1 liter and it substitutes 60 kg of sugar that costs 18 USD. In case of the industrial use of stevia syrup, for 6 tons of sugar the monthly economy accounts for 800 USD, the yearly - 9600 USD.

Transportation:
How much does it cost to deliver 5 tons of sugar from the regional sugar factory to the city plant? 5 or 10 USD? Of course not, much more. And if we add loading costs, bags and other expenses? It is much simpler with the stevia extracts. 25 kg box with stevioside substitutes 5 tons of sugar or 100 bags. A little 10 liter canister would substitute about 12 bags or 600 kg of sugar.

Warehousing:
Also we shall consider the costs of warehousing of sugar. They are rather high in big cities. In contrast, to keep stevia extracts equal to 5 tons of sugar we need only 0.4-0.6 m2.

New consumers:
Before buying something sweet, every second woman thinks first about her weight. It is not a secret that extra calories come with sweet cookies, sweet drinks, ice-cream, etc. And how many persons reduce the sweets' consumption because of diabetes or other diseases? Using stevia in food products, we increase the market and sales possibilities. In spite of its sweetness, stevioside almost does not have calories and does not increase the sugar level in blood. It can be taken by all the groups of diabetic patients.

So, we have various advantages. Then what holds us? Novelty? In the end of years 1970 in Japan there appeared first products based on stevia. Nowadays their share in the market of sweeteners makes up to 50%. It is the best evidence of the product and its high quality that is approved even by exigent buyers.