Mascato group investing strongly in Chilean mussels
Mascato Chile, part of the Spanish owned Mascato group, is an important seafood trade company, a cold storage services provider in Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas, and a visionary player in Chile’s mussel farming sector. In 2002 the company opened the most modern mussel processing plant on the island of Chiloé, Chile’s main mussel farming region. Mascato was a celebrated arrival for many small, independent mussel farmers throughout the island, since the plant bought nearly all of the mussels brought to its door and at a fair price. That changed however, when shortly thereafter Mascato started its own mussel production to supply its plant. According to a report from Aquanoticias the mussel venture in Chiloé has been so successful that the company decided to forge ahead and create two subsidiary companies dedicated exclusively to mussel production. Cultivos Azules S.A. is the mussel farming company, which consists of Mascato’s five mussel farming concessions and a fleet of four harvest boats. Blue Shell S.A. is the modern processing plant located in the town of Dalcahue. The plant consists of over 8,000 m2, 200 workers, three different processing lines for various product types, and a processing capacity of 180 tons per day, resulting in 40 tons of finished product per work shift. The Spaniard Eduardo Lloves, general manager of Mascato Chile also serves as general manager of Blue Shell. An introductory video of the plant and operations can be seen on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qPFqfOrtEU&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eaqua%2Ecl%2Fnoticias%2Findex%2Ephp%3Fdoc%3D20244
