Chile’s mussel industry hasn’t felt the fall
Last week on the 10th of March, the value of the US dollar broke the ten-year record, based on the fact that its value hasn’t been so low since the 10th of March of 1998. As the Minister of the Economy is hounded daily by the export sector to do something to rectify the crisis, one export industry in particular is growing fine and not complaining. According to Luis Klaassen, president of the Association of Miticulture Producers in Chile (AmiChile), this year’s first quarter has been very profitable thanks to the growing demand for the Chilean blue mussel (Mytilus chilensis). “We still haven’t been affected by the drop in the dollar due to the excellent price (US$ 0.45 per kilo) we are getting for mussels prior to processing,” comments Klaassen in Aqua.cl. The prospects for Chile’s mussel industry is doing so well that it has outgrown its poor neighbour image next to the salmon industry. Thanks to the neighbouring mussel farms, workers who have lost their jobs from salmon farm closures due to ISA, have a chance of finding work in mussels. “We are relieved to say that the problems facing the salmon industry have not affected us, and we hope to absorb a good part of the skilled workforce left behind as the salmon industry moves farther south,” adds Klaassen.
