The mushroom industry looks back on 2024 with mixed feelings: on the one hand, the continuing high energy, wage, and logistics costs continue to affect breeding farms. On the other hand, demand for many mushroom products, whether button mushrooms, exotic mushrooms, or forest mushrooms, has been very encouraging, as Ramazan Gülnar, specialized mushroom wholesaler and managing director of Paris Direkt GmbH, based in Münster, tells us.
Wild mushrooms: strong growth in chanterelles and truffles
Paris Direkt GmbH is one of the few specialists to offer fresh wild mushrooms all year round. "All in all, it was a successful year. We were able to significantly increase our sales volumes, particularly for chanterelles," says Gülnar. The first Balkan chanterelles were already available in the first week of March. "Although the chanterelle season tends to start earlier and partly overlaps with the asparagus campaign, we see a continuously high demand." For a few years now, chanterelles have also been procured from Sweden and Estonia. Here, too, the supply situation since the start of the season in mid-July had been pleasing.
From calendar week 3, the Münster-based company offers cultivated flight morels of Chinese origin. Chanterelles continue to be sourced from Morocco, Spain, and Portugal, but demand is currently extremely low. At Christmas, however, demand for a wide variety of wild mushrooms was very high. Gülnar: "Porcini mushrooms were in extremely high demand, but unfortunately, we couldn't keep up with the supply due to the heat in South Africa. Instead, we offered our customers alternative products such as chanterelles, trumpet mushrooms, and a wide variety of truffles. The latter item met with a very receptive market: I have never sold so many truffles at Christmas as I did this year, especially from Spain and Italy." The prices for exquisite white truffles were well above last year's level, while black truffles were offered at lower prices this year.
Rising demand for king oyster mushrooms
In the field of cultivated mushrooms, Paris Direkt GmbH relies primarily on German goods. The organic king oyster mushroom is the most popular. Gülnar: "We are also constantly expanding our network of breeding farms so that we can continue to meet the ever-increasing demand in the future. However, it has to be said that growing king oyster mushrooms is anything but easy. Many get started, but many also give up again."
Left: black truffles. Right: Despite further cost increases, the prices of mushrooms are roughly the same as last year. This is a conscious decision, according to the management of Paris Direkt GmbH.
Brown button mushrooms were in short supply
In the button mushroom sector, the company has been dedicating itself almost exclusively to the procurement and marketing of Dutch products for a few years. "Since we made the conscious decision in favor of Dutch produce, total sales have increased," says Gülnar. Demand was particularly high in the run-up to Christmas. "Brown button mushrooms were in short supply: in calendar week 52, we were no longer able to meet demand because staff and cultivation capacities were at full capacity. There was already an increase in demand for white button mushrooms, especially the fine sorting, from calendar week 48. However, we were able to prepare for the peak here so that we could ultimately serve everyone." After the turn of the year, or in calendar week 1, demand initially fell sharply, while in calendar week 2 a slight upward trend could be seen again.
All-in-one address for mushrooms of all kinds
Overall, Gülnar looks back on a strong 2024, in which total sales increased again. "We want to continue to position ourselves as an all-in-one address for mushrooms of all kinds and currently offer over 150 mushroom products, whether fresh, dried, or frozen. We also offer an entire range of packaging units. Our strength lies in our supplier care and close cooperation with the breeding farms so that we can always act flexibly. We are now in the process of updating our headquarters in Münster, for example, the machinery and the cold stores, so that we can serve our customers even better in the coming year," he concludes.
Photo credit: Paris Direkt GmbH
For more information:
Ramazan Gülnar
Paris Direkt GmbH
Lise-Meitner Straße 7b
48161 Münster
Tel +49 02534 977540
Fax +49 02534 977541
[email protected]
www.paris-direkt.net