According to an analysis of trade data from the Swiss Mushroom Growers’ Association and the Federal Customs Office, demand for mushrooms in Switzerland has been growing steadily over the past five years. In particular, since the beginning of the Covid epidemic, retail sales have increased sharply. A good indicator of the state of the market is that more mushrooms were sold between January and October 2021 than in the whole of 2019. According to retail data, the largest quantities of mushrooms are most commonly found on the tables of families with teenage children and older couples. The supply has also diversified, with more exotic and organic mushrooms and an increase in the total volume of mushrooms grown.
Growing and imports are booming
In 2021, 6,859 tonnes of fresh mushrooms were produced in Switzerland up to October, compared to an average of 6,060 tonnes in the first 10 months of the 2017-20 period. This means that 13% more mushrooms were produced up to October this year than the average for the same period in the previous four years.
Between 2017 and 2019, production fell slightly before reaching a record 7803 tonnes in 2020. The temporary closure of the catering sector has therefore not had a noticeable negative impact on sales. This is probably because customers bought the mushrooms from the shops, but prepared them at home.
Mushrooms are not protected by high tariffs, so Swiss mushroom producers are in constant competition with their foreign competitors. Imports have increased significantly in the last 5 years. The biggest increase in imports was in 2018, a 14% increase compared to the previous year, totalling 3,638 tonnes of mushrooms. However, by October this year, 3714 tonnes of mushrooms had been imported, more than in the whole of 2018. During the period under review, import prices (including customs costs) have shown stability, ranging on average between CHF 3.13/kg (2017) and CHF 3.22/kg (2018).
Expanding supply of mushrooms
In addition to white button mushrooms, various exotic mushrooms are produced in significant quantities in the country. The most notable of these are shiitake, oyster mushrooms and king oyster mushrooms. There is also a clear increase in this area in the period under review from 2017 to 2021. Among the quarterly data for the last 5 years, the highest production of exotic mushrooms was recorded in the fourth quarter of 2020 with 146 tonnes. The highest increase is shown by the production volume of king oyster and it is expected that the exotic production will continue to increase and additional species will be added to the assortment.
There is also competition for exotics between domestic and foreign products. 82 tonnes more exotic mushrooms were imported in 2021 through October than in the previous three years between January and December. The average price of mushrooms in 2021 was CHF 11/kg including customs costs. This is significantly more expensive than in previous years.
The share of organic mushroom production is increasing
The volume of organic mushroom sales to the retail trade is increasing despite higher prices. The total volume has also increased significantly, especially in 2020, up 15% compared to the previous year. Sales in the period January to October this year were also high compared to previous years, with the share of organic products 14.6% higher than in 2020. The price of organic mushrooms has risen significantly, while the price of conventional mushrooms has been falling steadily since 2017, falling from CHF 11/kg in 2020 to below the CHF 10/kg in 2021.
Consumption data
The impact of the Covid pandemic has also changed household purchasing habits. Between November 2020 and October 2021, an average household bought around 1.84 kg of mushrooms in Switzerland, while only 0.01 kg were bought abroad. This low figure is of course due to travel restrictions. The amount of mushrooms purchased abroad was not significant in previous years either, and it is not a product group that Swiss households purchase abroad in significant quantities. The average price of mushrooms purchased abroad was significantly lower than the price of the product purchased in Switzerland, but has recently risen sharply to CHF 8.90/kg.
Consumption data show that young households without children consume fewer mushrooms than households with children. The groups with the highest consumption figures are families and elderly couples. Between November 2020 and October 2021, all households bought mushrooms at a lower price than in the previous period. Families with children had the lowest average price, while older households bought mushrooms at higher prices. The analysis of the data shows that a higher proportion of older people bought exotic mushrooms during the period under study, which explains the price difference. Furthermore, as mushrooms are also offered in larger packs at a lower price per kilo, larger families have the opportunity to realize lower average prices. This also shows that by diversifying the range, it is possible to effectively target different groups of customers.
The full study on the situation of the Swiss mushroom industry can be downloaded from the website of the Swiss Federal Office of Agriculture.
