This master\’s thesis examines the market potential of cultivated Saccharina latissima in the nutraceutical industry with a
focus on fucoidan. This has been done by applying Porter\’s Five Forces Framework and evaluating various indicators that
influence the forces: the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers, the threat of substitutes, the intensity of competition,
and barriers to market entry. Through this approach, a comprehensive understanding of the market can be obtained,
uncovering opportunities and challenges, and enabling an analysis of how Norwegian cultivated Saccharina latissima
producers can position themselves in the market and become suppliers of sugar kelp for fucoidan extraction. The
methodology involves a two-part qualitative survey. The first questionnaire targets Norwegian cultivated Saccharina
latissima producers, gathering insights into their experiences, market challenges, and perceived gaps in industry knowledge.
The second questionnaire is designed for European nutraceutical companies who buy cultivated Saccharina latissima for
fucoidan extraction, addressing the concerns raised in the first phase and exploring the key factors influencing their
purchasing decisions. By bridging the perspectives of producers and buyers, this study seeks to contribute valuable market
insights that can guide Norwegian cultivated Saccharina latissima producers in positioning their products effectively. The
study
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s findings show challenges and opportunities within the market. The strongest competitive force is the buyer’s power
and substitutes. The buyer’s power is high because of many suppliers, and few buyers. There is low differentiation between
the competitors, and they have in general low power to negotiate terms. This is worsened by the fact that there are a lot of
options for buyers with substitutes. They can substitute if they buy in Asia or other parts of the globe. They can buy different
species rather than saccharina latissima, like fucus vesiculosus or fucus serratus; or they can buy wild-caught seaweed with
a much lower price compared to cultivated saccharina latissima. The industry is a nascent industry and there are a lot of
questions still to be unanswered considering being in the early stages. Patience is a key-word and keeping track over the
development in the market is important to not fall behind. There are some trends that the actors in the industry see. These
are companies merging to fewer but bigger companies producing seaweed. This is the same development salmon farming had
when the profitability was low. Also, there is a potential of vertically integrating and owning more of the value chain. Which
also reflect how the cultivated salmon farming was become in the past few years.