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End links connect processing core-functions with the blending, distribution, marketing and sales functions that lead to the application of carrageenan end products.

Most processors do some blending but specialized blending houses play a major role in eucheuma seaplant value-chains. Most carrageenan applications require that two or more types of gum be blended with salts, sugars and other products to create the mix that is used in end products. Many kappa carrageenan applications require blends with synergistic glucomannans or galactomannans. These indlude carob (locust bean) gum, cassia and konjac gum. Some large, sophisticated customers such as petfood manufacturers prefer to purchase standardized blends of "pure PES" which they combine with other gums and ingredients at the point of final product manufacture but this is more the exception than the rule in other industries. Marketing, sales and distribution functions are part and parcel of the blending function because most carrageenan is sold as a "specialty chemical" or "ingredient solution". The "magic" introduced at the level of processing and blending provides the competitive edge for biopolymer "solution providers".

The front line of carrageenan marketing is often cooperative R&D among blenders and end-users. The R&D staff of leading solution providers have broad and deep knowledge that can be of substantial use to enterprises developing new products. In extreme cases the solution provider may do almost all of the product development work for a customer. There is substantial inertia once suppliers are chosen and approved for particular products. The biopolymer component of a product is usually a small percentage of the product composition (e.g. about 0.5%) and may represent a small proportion of final-product cost but the biopolymer usually has a pronounced impact on product quality. This means that users are reluctant to switch suppliers or to tinker with the biopolymer mix once a product line has been established (see McHugh, 2003 pp. 48 & 71 for elaboration of this point). One product failure at the level of a full-scale plant run can be far more expensive than the slight saving to be achieved by buying a cheaper gum. Expertise has dispersed in recent years.

When eucheuma seaplant cultivation became commercially successful in the mid 1970s the carrageenan industry was dominated by relatively few companies based in the E.U., Japan and the U.S.A. Since then the following trends have taken place: