The Chamber of Agriculture expects the domestic mushroom market to stabilize in the coming months

By: Trademagazin Date: 2025. 09. 25. 11:39

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This summer, the demand for fresh mushrooms fell more than in previous years, while at the same time there was a strong oversupply not only in the domestic market, but also in the entire European Union. Demand increased towards the end of the summer, so the domestic mushroom market can be expected to stabilize in the coming months, the National Chamber of Agriculture (NAK) stated in its overview sent to MTI on Thursday.

They wrote that the market is unable to withstand sudden large-volume movements and fluctuations in demand. The mushroom market is oversaturated across Europe, and players are crowding each other out, with the strongest remaining.

In the domestic mushroom sector, production is becoming increasingly concentrated. Due to strong market competition, many small producers have stopped growing, and only mushroom growers with strong capital, producing with maximum efficiency, have been able to stay afloat. There are practically three growing regions left: Kerecsend, Bócsa and Pest counties. The domestic mushroom production area has grown to between 160-170 thousand square meters in closed, shelf production systems in recent years.

Hungary plays a decisive role in EU mushroom production; alongside the Netherlands and Poland, Hungary sees the EU mushroom market.

The domestic mushroom market can be said to be stable overall, a promising and developing sector. In recent years, the producers that dominate the domestic market have implemented significant developments and capacity expansions, and several have now reached the end of their years-long investments. As a result, the production area has now expanded by several thousand square meters. In addition, producers can also utilize existing growing tents more efficiently.

30 percent of the domestic crop goes to export markets. In the past decade, exports have ranged between 7-9 thousand tons, and in 2024, mushroom exports were 8,500 tons. The main target markets for fresh mushrooms are neighboring countries, primarily Austria, but we also ship smaller quantities to Slovakia and Romania.

The average mushroom consumption per capita is around 1.5 kilograms per person per year, which is significantly lower than the European 3 kilogram amount. Mushrooms are a product that can be grown in an extremely sustainable way, with a very low water footprint; 3-4 liters of water are sufficient to produce one kilogram of mushrooms. Agricultural by-products (straw, chicken and horse manure) are used for its cultivation to produce mushroom compost, which is used to produce healthy food, and the harvested mushroom compost can be used as a soil conditioner, the NAK informed.