Chinese firms dominate Peru’s seaweed trade despite lacking licenses
Photo: Unsplash.
The case of Chinese companies dominating Peru’s seaweed trade without valid industrial licenses has sparked alarms on multiple fronts: environmental, social, economic, and regulatory. According to official data from Sunat, in 2024 Peru exported 24,536 tons of dried seaweed, of which 95.5% went to China, underscoring the country’s centrality as the primary global buyer.
Peruvian seaweed, mainly of the Lessonia genus, is highly valued as raw material for Asia’s food, cosmetics, and pharmaceutical industries. Demand has grown steadily, largely driven by China’s domestic consumption and its role as an exporter of processed products. This demand has turned Peru’s coastal regions into sites of intense extraction pressure.
The Mongabay Latam investigation revealed that at least two Chinese firms control the majority of exports despite lacking valid industrial permits. Both companies have prior records of non-compliance, including sanctions for failing to prove the legal origin of seaweed exports. Nevertheless, they continue to operate by sourcing from local fishers and gatherers, many of whom work in informal or unregulated conditions.
The impact is particularly acute in the Ica region, Peru’s main seaweed hub, where disputes between fisher associations have escalated into violent clashes over access to harvesting zones. Weak government oversight compounds the problem: while the Ministry of Production (Produce) claims regional authorities are responsible for enforcement, regional governments blame Lima for insufficient resources and coordination.
From an environmental perspective, scientists warn that overharvesting is leaving clear signs of ecosystem degradation. Natural seaweed banks, crucial for water purification, marine biodiversity, and habitat for mollusks and fish, are shrinking rapidly. Marine biologist Paul Baltazar from the Universidad Científica del Sur emphasized that although climate change affects algae distribution, “China’s demand is the main driver behind current overexploitation.”
The situation poses a broader dilemma: while China secures raw materials for its booming industries, Peru faces mounting social conflicts and environmental risks. Civil society groups argue the country must adopt stricter rules on sustainability, traceability, and fair benefit-sharing, to prevent economic gains from concentrating in a few hands while coastal communities bear the ecological costs.
On a geopolitical level, this case illustrates that China’s interest in Latin American resources extends beyond strategic minerals such as lithium and copper. It now includes marine and biological resources, increasingly seen as critical inputs in the global competition for materials that fuel the industries of the future.
* Original text in Spanish. Translated by Large Language Model (LLM) technology.
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