The EU increased its mussel production by more than 20,000 metric tons (MT) in 2015 to reach a level of 544,629 MT, making it the world’s second most important producer of the bivalves behind China, confirmed the latest statistics on the trade compiled by the European Market Observatory for Fisheries and Aquaculture Products (EUMOFA).
Despite this growth and accounting for 27 percent of the global supply, the EU-28 had a mussel trade deficit of EUR 118 million (USD 131.8 million), with large volumes of frozen and preserved mussels being imported into the bloc from Chile (38,000 MT) and New Zealand (5,500 MT). In total, the EU imported EUR 134 million (USD 149.7 million) worth of mussels with Chile and New Zealand accounting for 75 percent and 24 percent of the trade respectively.
The EU’s mussel exports, meanwhile, totaled just EUR 15.7 million (EUR 17.5 million), including EUR 7.9 million (USD 8.8 million) worth of fresh products. The main non-EU markets for these products were Switzerland, Norway and the United States.
Within the EU market, the mussel trade exceeded 200,000 MT with a value of EUR 315 million (USD 351.9 million), of which 65 percent were fresh products. The main intra-EU exporters were the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark and Germany, while the main importers were Belgium, France, the Netherlands and Italy.
EUMOFA highlighted that the monthly patterns for the household consumption of mussels appeared to be similar between the key markets of Italy and the Netherlands, with strong seasonality and high consumption levels during summer and, to a lesser extent, the Christmas season. Additionally, mussel retail prices have averaged around EUR 2.50 (USD 2.79) per kg for the past four years in Italy, but have experienced much greater fluctuations in the Netherlands – averaging EUR 4 (USD 4.47) per kg during the same period, but also reached more than EUR 10 (USD 11.17) per kg in May 2016 and then fell to EUR 2.57 (USD 2.87) per kg in July 2016.
In the EU, the most commonly caught and farmed mussels are the blue mussel (Mytilus edulis) and the Mediterranean mussel (Mytilus galloprovincialis). Blue mussels account for 40 percent of the harvest and Mediterranean mussels make up 60 percent.
Spain is the bloc’s leading producer, accounting for 41 percent of output or 225,447 MT in 2015, followed by France with 14 percent (78,212 MT) and Italy with 12 percent (63,700 MT).
The total global production of mussels (all species) that year amounted to 2 million MT, with China accounting for 42 percent or 845,038 MT. The other main producers included Chile with 219,366 MT, Thailand with 118,775 MT and New Zealand with 76,982 MT.
