UK growers profit from Dutch mussel drought

The UK could become a Mecca for mussel-lovers as stocks from Europe's primary supplier plummet.

The Dutch mussel industry is expected to yield 400,000 tonnes this year, down from last year's 900,000 tonnes. This is largely because there has been a severe shortage of spawn; and to make matters worse, many mussels were lost during storms in January and February.

As a result, mussels currently cost twice as much as they did this time last year.

Restaurants and supermarkets in Belgium have already been forced to raise their prices. And people in the Netherlands and France have been told their mussels will soon cost more.

But Richard Coates, executive chef for the UK-based mussels-and-chips chain, Belgo, said his restaurants remained unaffected because they sourced most of their mussels from Wales.

Belgo supplements its Welsh supplies with Dutch mussels for a couple of months each year, and Canadian mussels fill in seasonal gaps. The group uses between eight and 10 tonnes of mussels each week and double that at Christmas.

Coates said the Dutch had dominated the European mussel market for many years, but that growers in Wales, Scotland and Ireland were now beginning to catch up. He believes the UK is now close to becoming self-sufficient in the shellfish.

He added that although countries such as Sweden and Norway were moving into mussels, their inexperience meant the shellfish could be small and gritty and prone to disease.

by Angela Frewin