Demand for carrageenan-based capsules waning

CEBU, Philippines - Unless the market demands for health-friendly capsule coating for medicines, the carrageenan industry in the Philippines could lose this potential market that have filled up the declining orders.

Seaweed Industry Association of the Philippines (SIAP) president Benson U. Dakay said that the huge pharmaceutical market is still not ready to use carrageenan as ingredient in making hard-capsule.

Carrageenan-made capsule is found to be healthier and of high quality, compared to gelatin-based capsule coating material.

“Now, that the mad-cow disease is no longer there, pharmaceutical companies are going back to gelatin,” he said.

However, Dakay hopes that the consumers will demand for more health-friendly capsule-coating products so that demand for carrageenan will improve, amid the declining trend of world requirement for the product.

Currently, the vege-capsule is priced three to four times higher than the gelatin-based capsules, thus most pharmaceuticals opt to use gelatin, than carrageenan as raw material, Dakay said.

On the other hand, although in short-term the demand of the pharmaceutical industry for carrageenan products is still big, Dakay hopes that the growing health conscious market will eventually shift the large pharmaceuticals’ mindset to make health-friendly capsules.

According to Dakay, the recent renewal of the US government to include this commodity in the “National Organic List” opens opportunity for carrageenan exporters, in capturing the pharmaceutical market.

In the first three quarters of this year, Carrageenan exports in the Philippines dropped by 30 percent, as demand for carrageenan especially as food additive declined because of global financial difficulties.

Carrageenan is a hydrocolloid extracted from red seaweeds that is used as an ingredient in food, dairy, air freshener, oral care, pharmaceutical products, personal care products, biotechnology research and other industrial consumer product applications.

The product is used in a variety of commercial applications such as gelling, thickening and stabilizing agents, especially in food products such as chocolate milk, cottage cheese, frozen desserts, yogurt, pet foods and sauces. About 70 percent of the world demand for the product is for food purposes.

The emerging pharmaceutical market could have ease the weakening demand, and supposed to be seen as an alternative market, but this time, it is still raw to hope for an immediate success to make pharmaceutical companies as big market potential.

The Philippines is the number one supplier of carrageenan product in the world market. Indonesia on the other hand, is now overtaking the Philippines’ position as the top producer of raw seaweed.

The Philippines used to supply about 120 thousand tons per year for raw seaweed. Now, seaweed farmers all over the country can only produce a total of 80 thousand tons per year because of sea-bed infertility and weather problems.— Ehda M. Dagooc