Marine Industries Global Market Analysis - Marine Institute

118 MARINE INDUSTRIES GLOBAL MARKET ANALYSIS
coast of Florida. Sponges have provided over 30% of the more than 5,000 chemical
compounds derived from marine organisms to date.
• More recently,Vent DNA polymerase has been isolated from micro-organisms
living around deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) is
used to amplify very small amounts of DNA or RNA, and forms the basic process
behind the gene mapping for the Human Genome Project. PCR requires enzymes
that are stable at high temperature, precisely the conditions that the Vent DNA
micro-organism has become adapted to.
• Nutraceuticals, or nutritional supplements, is a major growth area for the large
pharmaceuticals companies. Marine microalgae are known to produce high levels of
the fatty-acid, docosahexenoic acid (DHA) and arachidonic acid (ARA), both of
which are found at high level in breast milk. Because these polyunsaturated fatty
acids (PUFAs) have been linked to brain grey matter development, they are
regarded as an important nutritional supplement, especially for infants. One such
product, developed by Martek Biosciences in the US, is a market leader.
Figure 23.1: Marine Biotechnology –
World Market
23.2 WORLD MARKET
In 2004 world production was valued at €2.2 billion. An earlier report describes
the US marine biotechnology industry and the emerging market of marine
biotechnology products and services.The global marine biotechnology market
is projected to surpass €2.6 billion by 2009 with the non-US segment comprising
the bulk of the market. 77
The UK Foresight Report gives a predicted growth rate “exceeding 10% per annum
over the next three years” (from 2002). BCC Research in 2003 estimated average
growth from 1999 to 2007 as:
Source: Douglas–Westwood
USA 4.7%
Rest of World 6.4%
Total 5.9%
Over-estimation of market growth in the early years of technological development is
a common failing, therefore in our forecasts we have chosen to use an average growth
of 5.5% . (The 5.5% is the forecast in dollars.When exchange rates are applied, the
Euro growth rate is 3.8%.) In our view it is likely that the anticipated very large
market for marine biotechnology will develop outside the time period of this report.
This makes marine biotechnology a very interesting long-term ‘investment’ prospect.
77
http://www.bccresearch.com/biotech/C184R.html