Because of relatively poor weather, this year's supply of the coveted Japanese matsutake mushrooms seems to be insufficient, driving wholesale prices to double or triple 2018 levels. This is the case, although a bumper crop of imports has softened the blow to the overall market.
The average price of Iwate Prefecture-grown matsutake in Tokyo's Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market jumped 140% on the year to 93,037 yen ($869) per kilogram in late September, with less-expensive Nagano Prefecture specimens seeing a 170% increase. Prices are at their highest in the past 10 years.
Fewer matsutake are reaching retail markets. The supply of Nagano mushrooms arriving at greengrocers is 30% of year-earlier levels, while mushrooms from northern Japan's Iwate are down to less than 10%, data from an industry research group shows.
Hot, dry weather in these areas has slowed their growth, farmers say. "Matsutake won't grow if temperatures don't drop," a representative from a matsutake cooperative in Iwate Prefecture said. "It's taking two weeks to one month longer than usual for them to reach a size where they can be shipped."
