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Seaweed Economy

Economics Lab

Price and Buyer Reference

What seaweed has actually sold for, who bought it, and what it costs to process. Published figures only, each with its source.

No published source gives the price a British Columbia farmer or harvester is paid. The only BC figures on this page are shelf prices. The prices paid to farmers come from Alaska and Maine. Treat them as a guide to what similar farms were paid, and ask a buyer for a real offer.

Download or cite these figures

as a spreadsheet file (CSV), with the source, year, region and basis of each.

To cite this page: Seaweed Economy. Price and Buyer Reference. https://www.seaweedeconomy.com/tools/price-reference. Accessed October 18, 2026.

Please cite the original source for any single figure. Each one is listed with its link.

Wet kelp, paid to farmers

US$0.50 to US$1.00 per lb

Alaska and Maine, 2021 to 2025, wet weight.

Wet kelp, what buyers outside food say they can pay

US$0.20 to US$0.50 per lb

Alaska, 2025, wet weight. Below what farmers are paid today.

Dried kelp and dulse in bulk, advertised price

US$85 to US$117 per kg

Maine, 1 lb and 10 lb packs, 2026, dried weight. A seller’s advertised price, not what a business buyer pays.

Dried seaweed in small retail packs

C$286 to C$329 per kg

US$194 to US$229 per kg

Maine and Canada, 2026, dried weight. Shelf price, not what the harvester receives.

Show prices

Each price is in the currency and unit its source used. Most are US dollars per pound.

Wet kelp sold to a processor

What farmers were paid for kelp as it comes off the line, and what it has been modelled to cost to grow.

Biostimulants and other uses outside food

Large volume buyers. They pay the least per pound.

Dried seaweed as a food ingredient

What businesses pay each other for dried kelp is rarely published. Most of these are one seller's advertised prices for bulk packs, which are higher.

Premium and retail food

Small packs and direct sales. The highest prices per kilogram, on small volumes, with drying, packing and selling costs behind them.

The price a farm needs

A price only means something beside a cost. In Maine, the price a kelp farm needed to cover all its costs fell sharply as the harvest grew.

Yearly harvest, wetFarmsPrice needed to cover all costsResult
10,000 lb or less6US$2.52 per lbNone of these farms made a profit.
10,001 to 75,000 lb5US$0.70 per lbSome of these farms made a profit.
More than 75,000 lb5US$0.36 per lbAlmost all farms this size made a profit.

Brayden and Coleman (2023), Maine Seaweed Benchmarking Report, Maine Aquaculture Association 16 Maine kelp farms, 2022 harvest, interviewed in confidence. Source read. Costs on the BC coast may be higher.

Who is buying, and how much

Buyers and volumes named in published sources. This is context for the prices above. It is not a directory and not an endorsement.

What processing costs and yields

Less has been published for processing than for farming. These are the figures found so far, each with its source and how firm it is.

How much is left after drying

  • Dry kelp generally weighs about one tenth of the harvested weight. Alaska, 2024. Reported. Source
  • Harvested seaweed loses about 90 percent of its weight when sorted, washed and dried. A cost study for cultivated sugar kelp assumed 20 percent dry matter. Quebec, 2025. Reported. Source
  • Kelp has to be put into a stable form within 12 to 24 hours of harvest before it loses value quickly. Alaska, 2024. One person quoted. Source

What processing costs

  • A 2014 estimate put the cost of producing one kilogram of dried cultivated sugar kelp at 17.65 dollars, including seed, seeding, harvest and drying. Quebec, 2014. Assumed in a model. Source
  • Sorting, washing and drying adds about 1.50 dollars of value per kilogram of harvested wild seaweed. Quebec, 2025. Reported. Source
  • Moving the harvest on land and freezing it cost up to 15 Norwegian kroner (about US$1.70) per kilogram in working hours alone, according to one grower. Norway, 2021. One person quoted. Source
  • Conventional air drying uses a great deal of energy, and at the current scale of production its cost is too high to be competitive. Fermentation is described as a cheaper alternative. Norway, 2021. Reported. Source

What equipment costs

  • A small line that shreds kelp and stabilizes it in barrels at room temperature was budgeted at US$20,514 for 10,000 lb of seaweed, of which US$16,000 is the shredder. The shredder can be rented for US$178 a week. Two people can process 1,000 to 2,000 lb an hour. Alaska, 2025. Reported. Source
  • Drying facilities in Scotland have required very large capital investment, in some cases several million pounds, which is out of reach for small companies. Scotland, 2021. Reported. Source
  • Holders of seaweed farming licences invested US$3.9 million between 2015 and 2019, and 84 percent of it went to equipment for cultivation and processing. Norway, 2021. Reported. Source

What processed seaweed sells for

  • Dried and milled seaweed generally sells for £1,000 to £3,000 a tonne, with much higher prices for small quantities. Scotland, 2021. Reported. Source
  • For a farm that dries, mills and sells directly to food and nutraceutical buyers, the study had to assume £10,000 to £25,000 a tonne to reach a workable business. Scotland, 2021. Assumed in a model. Source
  • Imported dried brown seaweed for uses other than food is worth about 2.00 to 2.30 dollars a kilogram before the processor, wholesaler and retailer add their margins. Quebec, 2025. Reported. Source
  • One buyer in the United States put dry kelp at around US$1,000 a ton, against about US$300 a ton for soy flour. United States, 2023. One person quoted. Source
  • Dried seaweed supplements for animal feed sell mostly for US$350 to US$10,000 a ton, depending on the benefit claimed, the species and whether it is farmed or wild. Global, 2023. Reported. Source

Sharing a facility

  • Five of seven Norwegian growers interviewed said sharing investment, running and building costs was the biggest advantage of a shared landing and processing plant. Norway, 2021. Reported. Source
  • A Maine company with a shredder, an industrial dehydrator and a mill offers processing and drying to local farmers for a fee. Maine, 2026. Reported. Source
  • A processor in England takes partly processed seaweed in bulk containers, then dries, mills, packs and distributes it for the supplier. United Kingdom, 2021. Reported. Source

Not found in any published source

  • The cost of drying one kilogram of kelp in large volumes in North America.
  • What businesses pay each other for dried farmed kelp, as opposed to shop prices.
  • The fee charged by facilities that dry or stabilize kelp for farmers.
  • Any processing cost or price for British Columbia.

How to read this page

  • Every figure comes from a published document that anyone can open. Nothing here comes from a private conversation, a meeting or an unpublished report.
  • Each price is recorded in the currency and unit its source used. Converted prices are labelled, and the published figure is always shown with them.
  • Wet weight and dried weight are different things. Dried kelp weighs about one tenth of the harvest, so a dried price cannot be compared with a wet price directly.
  • Source read means the source document itself was opened and read. Reported by another publication means the figure was taken from a report that cites the original.
  • A shelf price is what a shopper pays. It includes drying, packing, branding, shipping and the shop's share, so it is far above what a farmer or harvester receives.
  • The figures were read from their sources in October 2026.

Know of a published figure that is missing?

Send us the link. If the source is public and can be read, it will be added here. To test these prices against your own costs, use the Farm Economics Calculator or the Processor Economics Calculator.

This page is a reference and is not financial advice. Confirm every figure against your own records and a written offer from a buyer.