Trade statistics report that the vast majority of carrageenan seaweed exports from Indonesia was shipped to China (UN Comtrade 2022). Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of carrageenan seaweeds (Hatch Seaweed Insights 2023a). Nowhere are these implications more direct than for Indonesia. Moreover, China's growing influence in the global governance of trade, food safety and environmental protection may have significant and wide-ranging implications for the entire carrageenan industry (Chan et al. Third, large corporate interests in traditional western countries are very interested in the rise of Chinese carrageenan processors – either as competitors or as partners. Secondly, Chinese outward investment provides opportunities and threats for policymakers in destination countries interested in industry development and generating employment and tax revenues, but who are also subject to pressure from domestic industry interests. Firstly, China's ascent as the world's largest processor of carrageenan-bearing seaweeds, and the associated structural industry changes and outward investment patterns has the potential to significantly influence the derived demand for raw seaweed and the prices that small coastal seaweed farmers receive for their product (Blanchetti-Revelli 1997 Porse and Rudolph 2017). The rising prominence of Chinese companies in the downstream sectors of the global carrageenan industry could have far-reaching implications. Driven by the technological advancement, companies from China have risen from a low base to play a growing and perhaps dominant role in the sector as a processor, trader, market and source of outward investment (Bixler and Porse 2011 Campbell and Hotchkiss 2017 Hurtado et al. The carrageenan processing sector was traditionally dominated by multinational corporations from “Western” countries (the US and in Europe) including through direct foreign investments in the Philippines (Richards-Rajadurai 1990 Blanchetti-Revelli 1997 Neish et al. The industry had a turnover of US$871.7 million in 2022 which is expected to reach US$1.3 billion by 2030 with burgeoning demand for processed, convenience or organic food from consumers worldwide (Grand View Research 2023). Carrageenan is utilized extensively as thickener, stabilizer or gelling agent in a vast array of processed foods, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and biotechnological applications (Necas and Bartosikova 2013 Bui et al. ![]() 2017 Porse and Rudolph 2017) or eucheumatoids (Ali et al. 2013), carrageenan-bearing seaweeds (Bixler and Porse 2011 Hurtado et al. ![]() ![]() It finds that Chinese trade and investment linkages is of net benefit to Indonesia but that Indonesian government agencies at both central and local levels can begin to introduce terms in their favour.Ĭarrageenan is a linear sulphated polysaccharide family extracted mainly from members of Kappaphycus and Eucheuma, two related genera of red seaweeds known collectively as carrageenan seaweeds (Valderrama et al. This study fills the gap by triangulating a range of detailed industry, statistical and interview data, in multiple language sources. Despite the importance, there is a dearth of studies on the Chinese domestic industry and associated trade and investment flows. This is especially the case for Indonesia, a pivotal carrageenan seaweeds producer that exports almost all seaweed to China, cemented by large Chinese investments in processing in Indonesia. In the past 20 years, China has moved to centre stage in the global carrageenan processing sector, with wide-ranging implications for seaweed producing nations and farmers. This includes carrageenan, a polysaccharide extracted from specific types of red seaweeds used as a gelling and thickening agent in a wide range of applications. China has reconfigured the global value chains of a wide range of commodities.
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