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

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They wrote that the market is unable to withstand sudden large-volume movements and fluctuations in demand. The mushroom market is oversaturated throughout Europe, and players are crowding each other out, with the strongest remaining. Production in the domestic mushroom sector 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 growing area of ​​domestically grown mushrooms has developed in recent years between 160-170 thousand square meters in closed, shelf production systems. Hungary has a decisive role in EU mushroom production, and Hungary sees the EU mushroom market alongside the Netherlands and Poland.

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 expansion, several of which have now reached the end of years of investments. As a result, the growing area has now expanded by several thousand square meters. In addition, producers can also utilize the existing growing tents more efficiently.

30 percent of the domestic crop goes to export markets

In the past decade, exports 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 to Slovakia and Romania in smaller quantities. The average mushroom consumption per capita is around 1.5 kilograms per person per year, which is significantly lower than the European 3 kilograms. 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 their cultivation to produce mushroom compost, which is used to produce healthy food, and the harvested mushroom compost can be used as a soil conditioner – NAK informed.

MTI