Plant extract is a product formed by taking plants as raw materials, according to the needs of the use of the extracted final product, through the process of physical and chemical extraction and separation, directional acquisition and concentration of one or more effective components of plants without changing the structure of their effective components. It is an industry corresponding to animal extract and can be used in medicine industry, food industry, health industry, beauty industry and other industries. According to the different components of extracted plants, there are glycosides, acids, polyphenols, polysaccharides, terpenoids, flavonoids, alkaloids, etc. According to different characters, it can be divided into vegetable oil, extractum, powder, crystalloid and so on.

There are many varieties of plant extracts. The supply and demand of these products change with the year and various market factors.

Product supply impact
As the raw materials of the plant extract industry are agricultural and forestry products, they are easily affected by the weather, diseases and insect pests, planting area and other factors, the purchase price and quantity of raw materials in different years will fluctuate.

Market demand impact
Most production enterprises have limited understanding of overseas market demand and may lack scientific and long-term accurate judgment of market demand. When the market demand for a certain product is relatively good, there will be demand exceeding supply market imbalance in the short term, but with the spread of market information, a large number of enterprises will rush to repeat production, resulting in the oversupply of products.

Vegetable extract are also a classification of plant extract. Vegetable extract is a product formed by taking vegetable as raw material, according to modern biological extraction technology, through physical and chemical extraction, separation, purification and other technological processes to obtain and enrich one or more nutritional components of vegetable in a certain direction without changing its nutritional composition. Vegetable extract is generally intermediate product, which is widely used in medicine, health food, tobacco and cosmetics. The species of raw material plants used for extraction is also very large. At present, more than 300 species of plants have entered the industrial extraction. For example, carrot extract is not only used in vegetable juice, baby food, health food, but also in sauce, curry, soup, seasoning and other indispensable raw materials.

In addition, mushroom extract has also entered the vision in recent years. Mushroom is a well - known food, but its extract is not well known. In recent years, the use of several different varieties of mushroom extract is gradually increasing, product form to preparations and powder processed products. From a nutritional point of view, ordinary edible mushrooms are low in calories, rich in protein and fiber, and a good source of B vitamins and minerals such as potassium, copper and selenium. Mushrooms contain very high levels of the antioxidants ergothione and glutathione, which help protect cells from diseases like cancer, heart disease and Alzheimer’s disease, according to a 2017 Penn state study. In addition, mushrooms are a good source of essential fiber as they can synthesize vitamin D from the sun's ultraviolet rays. It was found that "MD fraction" in mushroom extract had anti-tumor effect. With the development of research, mushroom extract can improve hyperlipidemia. Various effects, such as inhibition of cell subdivision, have also been identified. It has been used more and more in healthy food. At present, although this kind of products in particular hot market sales, but has formed a relatively stable market.

It is worth mentioning that there is another important component in plant extracts, terpenes. Terpenes are olefin compounds whose molecular formula is an integer multiple of isoprene. It is widely found in plants as a natural source of hydrocarbons and can be obtained from many plants, especially conifers. It is the main component of resin and turpentine derived from resin. According to recent studies, in addition to the abundant terpenoids in plants, a large number of terpenoids have been extracted from Marine organisms. According to statistics, the total number of known terpenoids exceeds 22,000. Many terpenoids have important physiological activities and are important sources of natural products and new drugs. Terpenes are widely distributed in nature, such as limonene in lemon oil, α-pinene and β-pinene in turpentine, which are colorless liquids lighter than water and have fragrance. Insoluble or slightly soluble in water, but soluble in ethanol. Its oxygen-containing compounds such as citral, menthol, camphor is main chemical raw material and spice, have wide use in paint industry. Terpenes can be synthesised from readily available industrial materials, but their chirality must be taken into account, since different chiral terpenes with the same or similar name may have different physical, chemical and biological properties. Currently, the research on this kind of substance is progressing rapidly, and many kinds of terpenoids have been made into commercial applications. Terpenes have attracted worldwide attention as a very important class of compounds. Their separation, structure determination, chemical synthesis and application have been a hot topic for many years.