Seaweed market study shows: European demand for seaweed exceeds production
2021-03-04
We had a market study and consumer research conducted by Mountainview Research. It illustrates the ambitions of a large group of businesses when it comes to seaweed. To lift a corner of the veil – the potential for European seaweed is large:
Europeans are consuming more and more seaweed. Currently the value of the European seaweed market is estimated at 840 million euros, compared to a global value of 8.4 billion euros. In 2030 the value of the European seaweed market for food will grow up to 2 to 2.8 billion euros.
At this time, Europe is importing nearly the complete demand for seaweed from Asia. But in 2030 locally cultivated seaweed could cover 25 percent of the European demand. Offshore wind parks are particularly suited as a location for sustainable seaweed farms.
As a sector organisation we are taking up the challenge to scale up volumes of local sustainably cultivated seaweed. A consortium of North Sea Farmers is currently working on a large scale seaweed farm of 1.6 km2 to be installed within a wind park in 2023. Resulting in 1,000 tons seaweed to be processed for various applications.
Would you like to learn more about the European seaweed market for food applications? Below you will find the links to the full reports for more information.
Summary of our findings - factsheet
Seaweed market study - full report
Press release 08-03-2021 (in Dutch)
If you have any questions or remarks about the studies, please contact Lotte.
