Commercial seaweed farming is incipient in all Latin America and the Caribbean countries. Brazil has enormous potential for developing commercial seaweed farming, thanks to its rich species diversity, extensive coastline, and strong domestic market potential. Nonetheless, the seaweed value chain appears to be underdeveloped and faces several challenges. There is an increase in startups focusing on higher value and innovative seaweed-based products. These startups are focused on the end of the value chain, whereas other segments — such as production and processing — has attracted less attention. This creates insecurity and instability in the chain. Thus, we interviewed stakeholders to map out the main pain points in the value chain.
We encountered a highly fragmented value chain (Fig. 1), in which the market demands different standards and volumes of seaweed, whereas the producers are on the edge of the production breakeven with lack of consistent demand (Table 1).
A total of 28 unstructured interviews were conducted: 11 producers, six entrepreneurs/startups, four R&D professionals from large companies, one retail supermarket (focused on Oriental products), and six professors/researchers.
The production is one of the weakest links. The selling price of seaweed as a raw material for the phycocolloids market may not be enough. To strengthen the seaweed chain, it will be essential to diversify the species being cultivated and focus on higher-value emerging markets. Currently, producers in Brazil face the challenge of not having access to native seaweed seedlings to start their production. Natural seaweed banks are scarce. Thus, the development of large-scale production of native seaweed seedlings will be essential to drive the seaweed value chain in Brazil.