Malaga beach bars importing anchovies from Morocco and Portugal

With the fisherman’s strike creating a shortage, beach bars in Malaga are importing anchovies from Morocco and Portugal

Manuel Villafaina, president of the Association of Entrepreneurs of Beaches of Malaga, explained today, Monday, March 28, some of the repercussions facing beach bars and restaurants as a result of the fishermen’s strike in Andalucia.

“There are some small boats in Malaga that are going out to fish, and they bring some anchovies, but very few boxes to be distributed, so, meanwhile, we are buying anchovies from Portugal or Morocco”, Mr Villafaina pointed out.

There are no fishing strikes in Portugal and Morocco, but products from Galicia or Valencia are also entering, despite the fact that the call for strikes is on a national scale. It is expected that more boats will go out to work in Malaga today despite the fact that the strike, as such, is until tomorrow, Tuesday 29.

Villafaina affirms that the beach bars are not having a general shortage of fresh produce, although they do have less quantity than on other occasions. He pointed out that there is a lack of shellfish, especially prawns, and that there are so few prawns on the market “that they are asking exorbitant prices for them”.

“To this, we must add that with the war between Russia and Ukraine, and the carriers’ strike, the price of sunflower oil – the one used in restaurants to fry fish – vegetables, and fruit, has skyrocketed.

Hoteliers are understandably worried he added, because they see that everything is getting more expensive, but for the moment they are maintaining the rates on their menus. At some point though, if the situation continues, they are faced with increasing their prices.

Their dilemma with this action is the possibility of losing both national and foreign clients. “We provide service, quality, and price, but if we raise it, customers can go to other locations”, he stressed.

“We are going to wait and see what happens, and if it is not fixed, prices will have to be raised”, commented Villafaina. He pointed out that there are beach bar entrepreneurs who planned to open their premises in these weeks prior to the start of Holy Week to start the tourist season but they have decided to keep them closed until everything calms down, as reported by malagahoy.es.

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