Gelymar doubles production capacity after $15m investment

Carrageenan producer Gelymar has invested $15 million in its two plants in southern Chile, enabling it to double its production capacity.

The company has upgraded its facilities in Puerto Montt and Tierra del Fuego as it looks to strengthen its position in Europe and North America.

In the past 18 months, Gelymar has released a series of new products for vegan, dairy, confectionery, pharmaceutical, and personal care products, most of which have been developed from Chilean seaweed.

“Gelymar has been registering double-digit growth for many years,” said Andres Hohlberg, Gelymar CEO. “We planned this expansion 24 months ago and invested the total investment amount in our two plants in southern Chile, Puerto Montt and Tierra del Fuego, so as to meet the growing demand of our renewable, new carrageenan line.”

Vicente Navarrete, Gelymar president, said: “We have more than 200 commercial ingredient formulations at Gelymar with different textural and functional properties.”

Gelymar uses four different extraction technologies, including one that is proprietary. In a statement, the company said it has promoted the potential of Chilean seaweed since the early 1980s and remains committed to furthering the development of its offerings.

The firm markets its products around the globe and benefits from strategic alliances with companies such as Algaia in Europe; AIDP Inc in the US; Ingregel in Spain, the Middle East, and North Africa; and Blue Way in China.

Earlier this year, Gelymar agreed to a long-term commercialisation and development partnership in the US with Algaia.

According to Algaia, the deal positions both companies as leading manufacturers of sustainable algae extracts for food, nutraceuticals and personal care products.