The holidays were good for the Belgian mushroom market. According to Michel Lesage from Lesage Champignons it was a ‘pleasant period.’ “Everything was satisfactory: demand, production, volume and staff scheduling. We would gladly sign up for such an end to the year. Christmas was on the weekend, many people cooked at home, and many restaurants were closed. This means that sales in supermarkets were significant, sales were higher than in previous years.”
Good temperature
According to Lesage, demand was slightly disappointing last year because of the high temperatures. “It was around 15 degrees Celsius then, and that is not helpful for the demand for mushrooms. This year it was about 2 degrees, which is better for our product.” Lesage emphasises that their prices do not increase when demand rises. “We work with fixed prices. Our customers know these will not just change.”
Lesage looks back on 2016 with satisfaction, and he is also facing 2017 positively. “I am now completely taking over the company from my father, so that is going to be a lot of hard work,” he laughs. “We are also going to take care of various internal matters, and we are taking another critical look at our cost structure. We want to maintain the fixed prices we offer our customers for a longer period. In addition, we want to focus less on the UK in 2017, because of the drop in currency values of the pound. We can no longer get the prices there that we want to receive. That is why we will focus on Belgium, France and other European countries this year.”
