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| List of countries & territories with coastline & reported seaplants |
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| How big is the world seaplant market?
.... over 2 M tons worth 8 billion+ USDollars/annum |
We are using market-size estimates made by scientists. Good market statistics are essentially unavailable and scientists tend to be a conservative lot who only report numbers in which they have some confidence. Consequently most seaweed market are probably gross under estimates. Indergaard & Jensen (1991) estimated that the mid 1980’s.market for seaweed and seaweed gums could be summarized as follows: |
|
| Product |
Value (Million USD/yr) |
Production (tons dry weight/yr) |
Seaplants used
(tons wet weight/yr) |
| Alginates
|
230
|
27,000
|
500,000
|
| Agar
|
160
|
11,000
|
180,000
|
| Carrageenans
|
100
|
15,500
|
250,000
|
| Kelp meal
|
5
|
10,000
|
50,000
|
| Maërl
|
10
|
510,000
|
550,000
|
| Liquid Extracts
|
5
|
1,000
|
10,000
|
| Nori
|
1,800
|
40,000
|
400,000
|
| Wakame
|
600
|
20,000
|
300,000
|
| Kombu
|
600
|
300,000
|
1,300,000
|
| TOTAL
|
3,510
|
934,500
|
3,540,000
|
|
| >>>see production by country<<< >>>see production by genus<<< |
| The French 1996 estimates by Perez et al. estimate approximately double the level of production shown above and estimate cash values as follows: |
|
| Market Segment |
Volume (M tons wet weight/yr) |
Share (%) |
| Food staple
|
3.6 |
47 |
| Food gums
|
3.2
|
43 |
| Maerl
|
0.5
|
7 |
Others
(spa, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, medicines, feed, agriculture)
|
0.2
|
3 |
| TOTAL
|
7.5
|
100 |
|
| Product |
Value (Billion USD/yr) |
| Porphyra
|
2.85 |
| Laminaria
|
2.00 |
| Undaria
|
1.14 |
| Others
|
0.20 |
| Food gums
|
0.86 |
| Kelp meal
|
0.86 |
| Maerl
|
~0.1
|
| TOTAL
|
8.01
|
|
|
|
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|
