Despite the weather, this has been a good start to the Eastern European wild mushroom season. "The chanterelle campaign has started particularly well. The desired calibers are all available in sufficient quantities and the prices have also been particularly pleasing so far. We are currently running at full capacity," says Ramazan Gülnar, managing director of mushroom wholesaler Paris Direkt GmbH, which sources most of its chanterelles from Bulgaria.
In many places, food retailers have already been offering chanterelles in the tried-and-tested 250g wooden trays in parallel with regional asparagus for weeks, Gülnar continues. "This was almost unthinkable in other years. Only after St. John's Day on June 24, the official end of the asparagus season, did we really take off with chanterelles. I also see this change as a sign that younger consumers, in particular, are increasingly aware of chanterelles and the marketing window tends to be extended."
As expected, daytime temperatures in the Balkan region will gradually rise in the coming weeks. "At some point, it will slowly become too hot for the chanterelles, which will result in the product becoming smaller, but also more aromatic. After all, it is still a natural product. As soon as the product starts to become scarcer, we will also buy our chanterelles from Lithuania," says the Münster native, describing the rest of the season.
Russia embargo & climate change
Nevertheless, the wild mushroom sector came under pressure last year due to the Russia embargo and the more difficult import processing in the Eastern European region. Says Gülnar, "You can forget about importing from Belarus these days, as well as the tried-and-true Russian collecting area of Kaluga, not only because of the embargo, but also because of the fact that it's no longer desired by customers."
Complicating matters are also the high transport and packaging costs. "This is where our long-standing and reliable supplier network pays off, as was seen last year. Goods were only available in limited quantities due to the drought, but we were able to supply our existing customers until the end of the season."
The majority of the chanterelles are procured via a Bulgarian partner. Supplementary quantities come from Bosnia, Serbia and Macedonia.
Porcini & Morels
Among the most popular wild mushrooms on the German market are porcini and morels. "Summer porcini mushrooms are usually somewhat weaker in quality compared to their autumn counterpart. So far, the prices have also been too high, which is why we will not really take off until week 25-26. Nevertheless, I do not expect better qualities until mid-July. Proportionally, especially the autumn porcini mushrooms play an important role for us. Especially in October and November, there is usually plenty of goods available from numerous countries of origin."
Meanwhile, the morel season already ended a good two weeks ago. "There are still goods from Macedonia and Canada, but it is also important to us to offer everything in its season," says the mushroom merchant, pointing to the weak morel campaign in terms of quantity. "In Turkey, one of the most important sourcing countries in terms of morels, there has been a disastrous season. I would even call it the worst harvest in the past decade."
Images: Paris Direct GmbH
Further information:
Ramazan Gülnar
Paris Direkt GmbH
Lise-Meitner Straße 7b
48161 Münster
Tel +49 2534 977540
Fax +49 02534 977541
rg@paris-direkt.net
www.paris-direkt.net