Russia: growing market for wild fungi en berries

Warsaw - Russian companies actively develop harvesting and processing of wild fungi (chanterelle, boletus), berries (cranberries, lingonberries, bilberries) and nuts (cedar nuts). The profitability of this business in Russia exceeds 15%, and in case of export the to EU countries - 100%. In contrast to the cultivated fungi and berries, wild ones do not require expenditures for cultivation, enjoy high demand in the West, and don’t need large initial investments. Since there is no official statistical data on the volume of wild fungi, berries and nuts market in Russia, it can only be estimated at hundred million dollars.

Wild fungi from Russia (here boletus) are exported to many EU countries

According to the data provided by the agency of Tomsk province development (ARTOT), market capacity in this region only accounts for 138 thousand MT per year (370 million $ in 2005). Besides the Tomsk province, production and processing of wild fruits, fungi and nuts is significant in other Siberian territories and northern regions of the country. The harvesting season lasts usually from June through October. During season more than 30 middlemen are involved in buying wild products from pickers and Tomsk food company AMK, which controls more than 50% of local market, have even their own forest land, intended specially for fungi, berries and nuts harvesting.

The company exports several thousand MT of edible boletus, chanterelles and cranberries per year to Italy and Sweden only. Some companies export row products and salted or boiled chanterelles, but more advanced – quick frozen products also. According to the President of Ledovo Group, cultivated and wild fungi sectors are not competitors. One of the major issues in the wild fungi sector is instability of supply which strongly depends on climatic conditions and ecological situation.

Consumption of fungi in Russia is a national tradition, therefore this market has a prospect for fantastic increase, but only if commercial cultivation on industrial scales will develop. Then, possibly, the cultivated analogs of wild fungi could extrude those growing wild. In the majority of European countries, USA, Australia, Japan and China such fungi are not collected any more, and buyers don’ts not see large difference between the wild and cultivated products. The same already occurred with blueberries which are cultivated on large scale in Europe, North and South America and Australia, or cranberries – commercially grown in USA. Opposite, most of cranberries used for processing in Europe come from Russian forests.

Publication date: January 29 2007
Author: FreshPlaza correspondent Poland
Copyright: www.freshplaza.com