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Secretary General of Marine Affairs of Xunta de Galicia, Juan Maneiro. (Photo: Xunta de Galicia)
Chile and Management ‘are not to blame for mussel sector atomization’
SPAIN
Thursday, March 06, 2014, 23:50 (GMT + 9)
Secretary General of Marine Affairs of Xunta de Galicia, Juan Maneiro, ensured that “nobody will be to blame — either Chile or the Administration – for the atomization currently undergoing the Galician mussel sector.”
“We have tried to break the atomization from within the mussel commission” so that the Administration will not be to blame, the official added.
Maneiro called on “the important self-analysis” that the Galician mussel sector “should perform.”
The secretary made these remarks when asked by BNG Rep. Daniel Rodas on the measures provided by the Xunta de Galicia to differentiate the mussel from Galician estuaries from that brought from abroad.
Ensuring product differentiation is a way of trying to avoid “fraud” during the trade process, the agency Europa Press reported.
In the Fisheries Commission of the regional parliament, Maneiro warned: “The industry has to make a very important analysis: where it wants to go; because at present it does not know.”
And he admitted that “imports may exercise influence” but competitiveness is positive. We have no production sector, unfortunately,” he went on to say.
Besides, he stressed that between 2005 and 2012, Spain imported 98,598 tonnes of Chilean mussels.
Out of this total, 82.38 per cent corresponds to preserved food, while “frozen products have virtually disappeared since 2009 and canned ones have stabilized with between 10,000 and 13,000 tonnes per year in this period,” he added.
Meanwhile, during that period the Spanish market imported 56,260 tonnes of frozen products from New Zealand.
The 98.64 per cent of that total, about 765 tonnes, came as canned products.
On considering these figures, the official said the Galician production is “stabilized” in about 250,000 tonnes per year, despite the fluctuations caused by climate change and biotoxin phenomen.
On the other hand, Maneiro indicated that the protected origin designation brand (PDO) ‘Galician Mussel’ “right now has less than 25 per cent of production in the board.”
“If 75 per cent of the sector does not decide to be in the DOP is because it has a problem. Such analysis must be performed,” he stressed.
Related article:
– Mussel sector is in an ‘economic emergency’ status, Regulatory Council claims
By Analia Murias
editorial@fis.com
www.fis.com
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