Chilean mussels are gaining strength in Europe
The Chilean commodity mytilus chilensis arrives to Europe as IQF (individually quick frozen) mussel meat in bulk format, which is then repackaged or reprocessed by the domestic European industry. According to the FAO’s latest GlobeFish Report, since this rising wave of Chilean (and to a lesser extent New Zealandic) mussel imports to Europe, Spanish mussel producers are focusing more on supplying Europe’s live mussel market, and consequently displacing live market shares of other traditional European live mussel producers. This trend has consolidated Spain’s position as the top supplier to the French live market, and currently live Galician mussels are being promoted by France’s largest supermarket chain, selling at EUR$ 3/kg (US$ 4.4/Kg). Although Belgium remains Europe’s top mussel market in per capita terms, France is the number one market overall in terms of volume at the import level, where Chile also remains the top supplier for France’s processed mussel market. Next in line (following Spain) is Italy, and of its 9,680 tonnes of imported processed mussels in 2007, 47% came from Chile.
