Currently, the protease enzyme market in the United States is showing a positive drift in December 2025 with CFR Los Angeles prices rising due to reasons like favorable demand conditions, nominal supply position, and cost inflation pressures. It needs to be highlighted that fervent buying actions in the food processing, nutraceutical sectors have contributed to the same. Raw material prices, especially fermentation materials, as well as higher freight costs, prompted changes in protease enzyme CFR pricing upwards by the suppliers. The importers also brought forward their purchases due to concerns about congestion and supply chain disruption risks at West Coast import points in the US, thereby limiting the supply of materials in the spot market. Looking forward, the positive pricing environment seen by now is also expected to be maintained over the coming months. The demand from the captive market, the inflexible worldwide protease enzyme supply base, as well as the new "high-end" applications of bioprocessing and formulation of advanced bioproducts, are expected to support CFR-LA prices. In summary, market fundamentals forecast stable to positive pricing attitudes for protease enzyme in the early part of 2026.
The Protease enzyme prices in the USA have continued to register an upward price trend, registering an increase of 1.4% as of December 2025, as the Cost and Freight (CFR) Los Angeles prices continued to strengthen in response to strong demand, restricted distribution channels, and an increase in production costs. The reason for the sustained increase in the prices of Protease Enzyme, according to Industry analysts, is due to a set of macro and sector-specific factors that have cumulatively encouraged high spending and prevented any corrections in the prices, thereby resulting in sustained growth during recent periods.
During the final quarter of 2025, the Protease enzyme Price Index in North America recorded sequential growth with US CFR Los Angeles pricing points showing significant changes from previous periods. This positive trend has been driven by import frontloading, as suppliers and distributors began to see limited Protease enzyme supplies and higher shipping costs on key seaports. Limited seaport RAM and congestion pushed suppliers to tender higher CFR to ensure that they could receive their orders on time, especially for use as foods, drugs, and industries.
The forces behind the robust prices include high costs of feedstock and production. Cost inflations were experienced by feedstock such as corn and media required for the production of Protease Enzyme. The costs of freight services as well as logistical operations within the shipping industry contributed to added costs to the landed prices of Protease Enzymes at US ports such as the Port of Los Angeles.
Driving this trend is the dynamic of demand. The Protease enzyme plays important roles within numerous industries, most of which have shown signs of fast-paced growth. In the case of the food processing sector, the escalating use of the Protease enzyme for protein hydrolysis, meat tenderization, and flavor enhancement has pushed up the demand for the product, especially because of the popularity of clean label and processed foods. At the same time, the escalating use of this product within the pharmaceutical sector, including the production of peptides, continues to drive biopharmaceutical purchases. The nutraceutical and clinical nutrition market segments in the USA continue with the adoption of protease blends into their formulations, thus increasing overall end-of-the-year demand.
Looking forward to the beginning of 2026, market analysts forecast that the trends in the CFR Los Angeles Protease enzyme market with respect to the pricing of the products are most likely to continue. Expectations exist to see further development in enzyme engineering technology in order to further diversify the Protease Enzyme's usage in emerging applications such as advanced bioprocessing and specialty chemical manufacturing, while at the same time, import dependencies could continue to suppress competitive price relief to keep US CFR high.
In conclusion, the US market for Protease enzyme is on course for further growth in the early part of 2026, in light of the general trends and market dynamics underpinning demand for industrial enzymes.
