The market for natural and nature-identical colours was worth £113.7M in western Europe last year according to The global market for food colours study. That equated to almost half the sales of food colours across the region. Since 2005, sales of the segment have grown by 7.5%.

But it added: "Growth is expected to continue over the next few years, although it seems likely that the sector will experience even greater competition from colouring foodstuffs in the short to medium term."

Colouring foodstuffs are derived from recognised foods, processed to retain their source characteristics. They can be labelled as natural ingredients rather than E numbers.

By contrast, the value of the western European market for synthetic and artificial colours has been declining annually by 2% in the past few years. "Although it still accounts for 53% of the overall food colours market, it appears set to lose its dominant position within the next few years if current trends persist," according to LFR.

The UK commanded western Europe's largest market for food colours in 2009, accounting for more than a quarter of the regional total and 7% of the global market.