Foreign investors eyeing opportunity in Puerto Montt
Manuelita S.A. is a business organization that dates back to the year 1901 as the first modernized sugar factory in Colombia. Today it is a diverse agro-industrial holding with annual sales of US$ 228 million, with exports throughout North and South America. Mussel farming is a new project for the company that came about after a year of market research in Chile, and led to the creation of the company Mejillones América, which incorporates local Chilean investors involved in the mussel industry. Manuelita’s mussel company will invest US$ 8.6 million in the construction of a new mussel processing plant just south of Puerto Montt. The plan is that by the fifth year of operation, the plant will reach a production capacity of 216 tons per day of IQF mussel meat. The majority of Manuelita’s mussel production is intended for the U.S. market.
