The economy of the salt marshes

"Origin" salts now represent more than half the market for cooking salt in value, and more than one third in volume; the origin Guérande being by far the biggest.

The specific nature of our product, due to its land, its harvesting method and the salt workers' know-how, is recognised in Brittany, more largely in France and also in numerous foreign countries, in Europe and further abroad.

Nearly 300 salt workers, working with almost 12,000 "oeillets", produce the 12,000 to 14,000 tonnes sold annually. It is still today a significant part of the economy in the Guérande peninsula.

This may seem small compared to the 45,000 tonnes sold annually a few centuries ago (with a large proportion exported to the Nordic countries) or even to the 12,000 tonnes sold just by the Producers' Association in 1979, at the lowest point of the last crisis, but it is a satisfying result for a product otherwise condemned to disappear.