Market overview

WS-23 (2-isopropyl-N,2,3-trimethylbutyramide) is an odourless synthetic amide that triggers the TRPM8 cold receptor without the mint taste or harshness of menthol. It is used in chewing gum, confectionery, beverages and oral care, and has become the standard 'ice' cooling agent in e-liquids, disposable vapes and nicotine pouches. Supply is concentrated in a small group of Chinese specialty fine-chemical makers that sell to flavour houses and vape-liquid blenders, so vape regulation now shapes both demand and supplier risk.

The question this report answers
How large is WS-23 demand from vapes and nicotine products, who supplies it, and how exposed is it to tightening rules on synthetic coolants and disposable vapes?

1. Demand: who uses WS-23 and where it is growing

E-liquids and disposable vapes are the largest use of WS-23, with China's vape-manufacturing hub the largest consuming region.

Demand by application (share of 2025 consumption, Market Krystal analysis)
– E-liquids and disposable vapes: 45%
– Chewing gum and confectionery: 20%
– Oral care (toothpaste, mouthwash): 12%
– Beverages and other foods: 10%
– Nicotine pouches and other oral nicotine: 6%
– Cosmetics and personal care: 4%
– Pharmaceuticals and other: 3%
Shares are a Market Krystal estimate built from the BfR finding that WS-23 is in about 78,000 of 426,350 EU-registered e-cigarette products at typical 1-4% loadings (BfR), China's 1,346 t of 2022 WS-series demand (Chinaherb prospectus via Southwest Securities) and the producers' disclosed customer mix.

Demand by region (share of 2025 consumption, Market Krystal analysis)
– China (incl. vape export manufacturing): 45%
– North America: 18%
– Europe: 17%
– Asia-Pacific ex-China: 15%
– Rest of world: 5%

Where demand grows fastest to 2035
– Nicotine pouches and other oral nicotine: Expected to be the fastest-growing use to 2035 as pouch volumes rise, though California's cooling-flavour rule applies to pouches too (California Attorney General) (Market Krystal estimate)
– Refillable and pod e-liquids: Expected to take share from disposables as the UK single-use ban, in force since June 2025, shifts users to refillable formats (DEFRA) (Market Krystal estimate)
– Functional beverages and confectionery: Steady mid-single-digit growth as brands use non-mint cooling; one publisher puts food and beverage above 35% of the wider WS-23 market (Strategic Revenue Insights) (Market Krystal estimate)

2. Supply: who makes WS-23 and how much

Kunshan Asia Aroma, Anhui Chinaherb and Apple Flavor & Fragrance in China dominate output; Symrise markets Symcool WS-23 to flavour users. Disclosed WS-23 capacity is led by Kunshan Asia Aroma at 650 t/yr, run at 100% utilisation in 2024 (Kunshan Asia Aroma); Chinaherb had about 900 t/yr of WS-series cooling-agent capacity before a 900 t/yr amide expansion (Chinaherb prospectus via Southwest Securities).

Main producers and capacity
– Kunshan Asia Aroma Corp. (301220.SZ) (China / Thailand): WS-23 650 t/yr at 100% utilisation (2024); plants in Nantong, Jiangxi, Hubei and a Thailand site (Kunshan Asia Aroma 2024 annual report)
– Anhui Chinaherb Flavors & Fragrances (920016.BJ) (China): About 900 t/yr cooling agents; 2,600 t/yr cooling agent and aroma project, phase 2 in trial production from Sep 2025 (Anhui Chinaherb 2025 annual report)
– Apple Flavor & Fragrance Group (603020.SH) (China): Named as a main domestic cooling-agent competitor; capacity not disclosed (Anhui Chinaherb listing documents (Jiemian))
– Symrise (Germany): Markets Symcool WS-23 (FEMA 3804) for food, oral care and flavours; production sites not disclosed

Production by region (share of 2025 output, Market Krystal analysis)
– China: 85%
– Southeast Asia (Thailand): 5%
– Europe: 5%
– India and rest of world: 5%

Trade and supply-demand balance
China is a net exporter, both as bulk WS-23 to flavour houses and embedded in exported vapes and e-liquids; Europe and North America import almost all their needs, and Chinaherb's overseas sales rose 14% in 2025 (Chinaherb).

3. Value chain: from feedstock to end market

Nitrile intermediate (2-isopropyl-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile) + Methylamine + Isopropyl and C3 alkylating reagents → WS-23 → E-liquids and disposable vapes, Chewing gum and confectionery, Oral care (toothpaste, mouthwash)

Raw materials
– Nitrile intermediate (2-isopropyl-2,3-dimethylbutyronitrile): The key captive intermediate; Chinaherb's expansion includes 1,170 t/yr of nitriles, 630 t for own use (Chinaherb prospectus via Southwest Securities) (Chinaherb prospectus via Southwest Securities)
– Methylamine: Forms the N-methyl amide in the final step; a commodity amine with modest cost weight (Market Krystal estimate)
– Isopropyl and C3 alkylating reagents: Build the branched carbon skeleton; a source of solvent and waste-treatment cost (Market Krystal estimate)

Production route
Most producers alkylate a branched nitrile to form the hindered nitrile intermediate, then hydrolyse and amidate it with methylamine; Chinaherb is developing a continuous-reactor WS-23 synthesis (Chinaherb).

Downstream
Flavour houses such as IFF, Givaudan, Firmenich, Symrise and Takasago, plus e-liquid blenders, formulate WS-23 into flavour systems for vape, pouch, gum and oral-care brands (Kunshan Asia Aroma; Chinaherb prospectus via Southwest Securities).

Price, cost and margin
Chinese capacity additions are pushing prices down; Chinaherb's cooling-agent gross margin fell 7.4 points to 26.1% in 2025 (Chinaherb). Cooling agents sold at about RMB 311-336k per tonne in Chinaherb's listing period (Jiemian), but prices have kept falling under competition (Chinaherb). Gross margins sit at about 26-32% for the two listed producers (Chinaherb; Kunshan Asia Aroma), and the larger margin sits with flavour houses selling finished cooling blends.

Where the chain is tightest
The exposed step is vape demand: a few rules on synthetic coolants or disposables can remove a large share of volume from a supply base that is still adding capacity.

Who sits where in the chain
– Producer: Kunshan Asia Aroma, Anhui Chinaherb Flavors & Fragrances, Apple Flavor & Fragrance Group
– Flavour house: Symrise, IFF, Givaudan
– Consumer brand: Mars Wrigley
– Regulator: BfR

4. Market size: what demand, supply and price add up to

Market Krystal preliminary estimate (2025)
One publisher page covers WS-23 alone: Strategic Revenue Insights projects about USD 1.5 bn by 2033 at 6.8% CAGR. Other publishers (QYResearch, GlobalInfoResearch, Bosson) cover the wider WS series behind paywalls. Market Krystal sets global 2025 WS-23 consumption at about 1,800-3,000 t, anchored on Kunshan Asia Aroma's 650 t/yr WS-23 line at full utilisation (Kunshan Asia Aroma) and Chinaherb's 288 t of 2023 WS-23 sales at about 30% of China's WS-series market (Chinaherb prospectus via Southwest Securities). That volume is valued at an indicative USD 28-35 per kg, below the RMB 311-336k/t cooling-agent average reported in Chinaherb's listing documents (Jiemian), as both leading producers report falling prices. On this basis we use USD 50-100 mn. Confidence grade C: no published estimate; built bottom-up from capacity, trade and price data.

How published estimates compare
Public WS-23 estimates are thin; the one product-specific page projects about USD 1.5 bn by 2033, well above what disclosed producer revenues and volumes support. Market Krystal builds bottom-up from producer capacity, sales tonnes and reported prices, which gives a market in the tens of millions of dollars.

Key figures at a glance (third-party, cited)
– WS-23 appears in about 78,000 of roughly 426,350 e-cigarette products registered in the EU, mostly at 1.0-4.0% by weight (BfR)
– Kunshan Asia Aroma has 650 t/yr of WS-23 capacity, run at 100% utilisation in 2024 (Kunshan Asia Aroma)
– Kunshan Asia Aroma cooling-agent revenue was RMB 316.89 mn in 2024, up 8.65% (Kunshan Asia Aroma)
– Chinaherb cooling-agent revenue was RMB 161.2 mn in 2025, with gross margin down 7.39 points to 26.12% (Anhui Chinaherb)
– China's demand for WS-23 and similar cooling agents was about 1,346 t in 2022, growing over 40% a year since 2019 (Chinaherb prospectus via Southwest Securities)
– Strategic Revenue Insights projects the WS-23 market at about USD 1.5 bn by 2033 at 6.8% CAGR (Strategic Revenue Insights)

5. Outlook to 2035 and scenarios to 2047

Regulation and substitution
California now treats menthol-like cooling as a banned characterising flavour, the BfR advises against WS-23 in e-liquids, and the UK banned disposable vapes in June 2025.

Recent developments among key stakeholders
– Apr 2026: Anhui Chinaherb reported 2025 cooling-agent revenue of RMB 161.2 mn, falling selling prices, and phase 2 of its 2,600 t/yr cooling-agent project in trial production since September 2025 (Anhui Chinaherb)
– Jun 2025: The UK banned the sale and supply of single-use vapes from 1 June 2025, a major outlet for WS-23-cooled 'ice' flavours (DEFRA (UK Government))
– Apr 2025: Germany's BfR (Opinion 010/2025) said e-liquids containing WS-23, WS-3 or WS-5 are not recommended toxicologically and noted government could ban coolants in e-cigarettes (BfR)
– Apr 2025: Kunshan Asia Aroma reported its 650 t/yr WS-23 line ran at full utilisation in 2024 and named Mars Wrigley and IFF among main customers (Kunshan Asia Aroma)
– Sep 2024: California signed AB 3218, extending its flavoured-tobacco ban to products with menthol-like cooling sensations from 1 January 2025 (California Attorney General)

What this means for the market
Vape-liquid blenders and flavour houses should expect WS-23 to stay cheap and plentiful as Chinese capacity ramps. Producers face a mismatch: capacity is rising while the largest outlet, disposable vapes, is under bans and coolant scrutiny in the UK, EU and California. Suppliers with food, gum and oral-care customers such as Mars Wrigley and IFF are better hedged than those selling mainly to vape makers.

Strategic scenarios to 2047
– Base: Food, gum and oral-care demand grows steadily while vape use shifts from disposables to refillables and pouches; WS-23 volume grows at low single digits to 2047 with flat to falling real prices.
– Constrained supply: Chinese environmental tightening or consolidation of nitrile intermediate supply removes capacity, lifting prices and favouring integrated producers with captive nitriles.
– Technology transition: Regulators in the EU and US restrict synthetic coolants in inhaled products, cutting the vape share sharply and moving demand to oral nicotine, confectionery and newer TRPM8 agonists.
The swing factor for WS-23 is EU coolant rules in the Tobacco Products Directive revision. Signposts: EU TPD revision text on coolants, FDA flavour and PMTA actions on 'ice' products, further US state cooling-flavour laws, China GB 41700 additive list changes, Chinaherb and Asia Aroma capacity utilisation, cooling-agent selling prices.

What this report delivers
Annual volume (tonnes) and value (USD) for 2026-2035, segmented by application: E-liquids and disposable vapes, Nicotine pouches, Chewing gum and confectionery, Oral care, Beverages and foods, Cosmetics and personal care; end use: Vape and e-liquid makers, Oral nicotine brands, Confectionery and gum makers, Oral-care brands, Flavour houses; region: China, North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific ex-China, Rest of world. Each segment is backed by a producer capacity map, trade data and the Market Krystal estimate log, with scenarios to 2047 and strategic recommendations.