Countries by Seaweed Farming 2024
About This Dataset
Countries by Seaweed Farming 2024
What this chart shows. The fifteen countries that cultivated the most seaweed and other algae in 2024, in tonnes of wet weight as harvested. World farmed algae output was 38,932,352 tonnes, produced by 70 countries and territories in all.
How the data is collected. Algae are reported through the same annual FAO questionnaire as farmed animals, under species items that cover macroalgae, microalgae and cyanobacteria. Wet weight is used because algae are weighed fresh; drying ratios differ by species and are not applied in this dataset.
Background. Farmed algae are grown for food, for hydrocolloids such as agar and carrageenan used in processed food, and for fertiliser and animal feed. FAO records them within aquaculture because the crop is stocked, tended and owned in the same way as farmed fish, and the same dataset separately records algae gathered from the wild, which came to 1,303,856 tonnes in 2024.
Limits. FAO publishes returns for Zanzibar separately from the rest of the United Republic of Tanzania, and both appear on this list rather than being merged. Several producers report a single national figure without a species breakdown, and countries with a small industry may be absent altogether if no return reached FAO in time.
How the data is collected. Algae are reported through the same annual FAO questionnaire as farmed animals, under species items that cover macroalgae, microalgae and cyanobacteria. Wet weight is used because algae are weighed fresh; drying ratios differ by species and are not applied in this dataset.
Background. Farmed algae are grown for food, for hydrocolloids such as agar and carrageenan used in processed food, and for fertiliser and animal feed. FAO records them within aquaculture because the crop is stocked, tended and owned in the same way as farmed fish, and the same dataset separately records algae gathered from the wild, which came to 1,303,856 tonnes in 2024.
Limits. FAO publishes returns for Zanzibar separately from the rest of the United Republic of Tanzania, and both appear on this list rather than being merged. Several producers report a single national figure without a species breakdown, and countries with a small industry may be absent altogether if no return reached FAO in time.
Analysis
Seaweed farming is heavily concentrated: China harvested 24,391,407 tonnes, 62.7 percent of the world total, and Indonesia a further 9,853,604 tonnes, so two countries hold 88.0 percent of it. The Republic of Korea is third on 1,720,921 tonnes. Everything below the top four is small by comparison: Democratic People's Republic of Korea in fifth place harvested 603,000 tonnes, roughly 2.5 percent of the leader. Eight of the fifteen producers listed are in Asia, and the largest outside Asia is United Republic of Tanzania, Zanzibar on 197,160 tonnes.
Key Findings
🏆
China leads in Farmed seaweed and algae (tonnes, wet weight) with 24,391,407 in 2024.
📊
Average Farmed seaweed and algae (tonnes, wet weight) in 2024: 2,593,734 · median: 197,160.
↔️
Gap in 2024: China is 3,749.6× larger than Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of).
Data Insights
Numbers, trends & sources behind this chart
Methodology & source
- Data source
- FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Division
- Coverage
- 15 entities · 2024 · 15 observations
- Measure
- Farmed seaweed and algae (tonnes, wet weight)
- Last updated
- 18 September 2026
- Compiled by
- The ANYSTAT team, from the source above
How the figures are calculated
- Values are shown as reported by the source. Nothing is rescaled, rebased or converted — the only changes are thousand separators and decimals shown to two places.
- Entities are ranked highest-first on their value in 2024.
An article using this data
The World Farms More Seafood Than It Catches, and a Quarter of the Harvest Is Seaweed
FAO’s 2026 data release puts world aquatic production at 234,841,529 tonnes in 2024. Farming supplied 60.3 percent of it, and seaweed alone accounted for 38,932...
Data Sources & References
All external sources cited in this dataset
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