Calm before the storm for German mushroom market
Unlike most of Western Europe, Germany enjoys a very busy summer season, which should pick up again in around two weeks, with the lead up to Christmas.
According to the ‘Bund Deutscher Champignon- und Kulturpilzanbauer e.V. ‘ (BDC), 2016 is expected to be a record year for production in Germany. For the first time ever, they are expecting to reach 70,000 tonnes (63,000 for fresh and 7,000 tonnes for processing). This is an increase of 3,000 tonnes from 2015.
Unfortunately, this is not all good news for producers, with mushrooms being one of the few products in the fruit and vegetable industry with slightly declining prices and steadily rising production costs.
Steady demand for white button mushrooms
“Demand for white mushrooms has remained stable for the last 10 years, and this year is no exception. With low prices, and always enough quantity throughout the year, its demand hasn't been affected by the cultivated exotics, although it has been getting more competition from the brown button mushrooms in recent years.” shared a German mushroom wholesaler.
The wholesaler said that, although popularity is increasing for new varieties, it still makes up a small quantity of what is sent out every week. The company sends out around 50 tonnes of button mushrooms versus 10 tonnes of the exotic, cultivated mushrooms.
When it come to the exotic cultivated mushrooms, the Eringi (King Oyster) is living up to it's name and is the King of demand for those varieties.