Xanthan gum is a biopolymer produced by Xanthomonas campestris. In xanthan gum fermentation, the fermentation broth changes to highly viscous non-Newtonian fluid as xanthan gum concentration increases. Maximum xanthan gum concentration is limited by high viscosity of the broth since mass transfers of nutrient and oxygen are inhibited. Int this study the mass transfer effects were investigated in batch and fed-batch fermentations at various agitation speeds and by separate oxygen transfer experiments. Xanthan gum production rate was observed to be largely dependent on oxygen transfer coefficient; while cell growth rate was not affected highly by this factor,