Polish exporters to the UK are being forced to raise their prices, due to the instability of Sterling after Brexit. The UK is the biggest market for many Polish exporters, and Polish mushroom exporter, Grzybmar, is no exception.
"With most export prices being set with yearly contracts, exporters have been forced to send out their products at a loss. Many are losing money and having difficulties selling their products because, it seems that not all UK importers understand the exchange rate issue, and are not willing to accept higher prices." shared Adam Matuszewski, CEO of Grzybmar.
When asked if the company would start looking more to other markets after the current difficulties with the UK, Adam responded, "We are always open to other markets, but the British market remains interesting to us due to the large amount of mushroom consumption. When it comes to new contracts, we need to make sure that we quote the Sterling value, but the problem is that no one can predict what the value will be later, whether it will improve or decrease."
Volumes are stable, although there was a slight decrease this week due to the UK school holidays. Demand continues all year round for mushrooms, hitting its peak during Sept-Nov., just before holidays such as Christmas and Easter.
A majority of the mushrooms supplied to the UK remain the white and brown cultivated mushrooms, but around two years ago, Grzybmar added wild cultivated mushrooms to their offering, such as shiitake, enoki and shimeji. Mixes of different Asian varieties have proven very popular on the British market and demand continues to increase, however, not at the cost of the demand for white cultivated mushrooms.
"We have quite a lot of customers and not everyone is buying the Asian mixes, but more and more are interested, and once they start, they continue to buy because this is the product which is selling really well." says Adam Matuszewski
There is also a lot of demand for wild mushrooms, unfortunately the dry summer has meant that there are virtually none available in the West of Poland, so most exporters are looking to Eastern Poland and other parts of Eastern Europe such as the Ukraine and Lithuania to fill the gaps
The wild mushroom season in Poland starts in August and ends in October when the temperatures become too cold at night.
