The mushroom trade has been stable for quite a while. "It's really a very boring market, with prices being around the same level for a long time now," says Danny Schrama of Schrama Champignons, The Netherlands. He thinks a stable market situation is good. "If the market goes up and down, it's usually more down than up! But I have to say we're a bit less active in the daily trade."
Mushroom sales were reasonable ahead of Easter. "It was a bit less than previous years, but that was accountable to the weather conditions. A bit of market trade disappears then. For years, sales of special mushrooms, like oyster mushrooms and chestnut mushrooms, laged behind the white mushrooms at Easter. During Christmas, it's exactly the other way around. Probably because the white mushrooms match the eggs," Danny says, laughing.
Two years ago, Schrama Champignons introduced new packaging, clearly distinct from the blue tray, in which the Limburg origin plays an important role. Danny had expected more demand for this packaging, however. "First you're told that something needs to happen with the packaging, and if you have something new, people have to get used to it again."
How the market will develop in the coming time, remains to be seen, according to Danny. "For us, it's always exciting to see what the asparagus will do. If they're cheap early on, mushroom trade will lag behind. If the asparagus price decreases slowly, mushrooms sales will also continue nicely."
For more information:
Danny Schrama
Schrama Champignons
Hekstraat 26
6235 NL Ulestraten
Tel: +31(0)43-3643375
schramachampignons@kpnmail.nl
www.natuurlijklimburgs.nl