"Brazilian mushroom market grows by 20% a year"

The Brazilian market for mushrooms is growing. According to Gustavo Barrichello, from the Villa Barrichello company, the market has been growing by 20% annually. "There is a lot of competition in the domestic market, but we don't receive many imports, only some mushrooms from China," said the producer.

Villa Barrichello has been cultivating two varieties of mushrooms for the past 15 years: oyster mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms. They produce the in heated greenhouses all year round and sell them in the domestic market. "We are trying to keep up with the market's growth rate, so our production also increases every year."

"Compared to other vegetable products, mushrooms are quite expensive," Barrichello continued. "That's because production is lower than the market demand. We can't produce all that the market wants."

Barrichello has no plans to expand its range of mushrooms. "There are other varieties of mushrooms in the market, but we find it difficult to produce many varieties in the same place, so we try to focus on the two varieties that we currently have. We have a plan to increase our production fivefold in ten years. The only problem is that, right now, it's very difficult to get credit from a bank in Brazil."

Regarding the country's unstable economic situation the producer said: "Interest rates are extremely high right now, so we would pay too much for a loan. We're working slowly but, in one or two years, when the economy has stabilized, I think we can increase our production faster," he said.

The producer is optimistic about the new president of Brazil, Michel Temer, even though his appointment is not final and former president, Dilma Rousseff, could return to power. If this happens, the producer said, the country could become bankrupt. This political situation should be resolved in less than a month.