Poland is largest producer of button mushrooms in EU

Poland is the largest producer of button mushrooms in Europe and one of the leaders in the world, the country sells over half of the European Union's export, the Polish Economic Institute (PIE) has said.

According to PIE, the domestic consumption is one of the lowest in European Union.

The statistics confirm that button mushrooms have been one of Poland's export hits for many years. "Since Poland's accession to the EU, there has been an annual increase in the export of mushrooms," PIE said in its report.

In 2004, domestic producers sold 87,000 tonnes of mushrooms abroad worth EUR 101 million, while in 2018 exports increased to nearly 236,000 tonnes worth EUR 354.5 mln.

Button mushroom buyers abroad willingly buy the product because of the price, which is lower than the price offered by other Eastern European producers. Also the quality of the Polish mushrooms bring more consumers, as they are picked by hand.

According to Eurostat, the EU's statistics agency, in the first eleven months of 2019, the export of button mushrooms from 27 EU states stood at EUR 650 million. Poland was placed first on the list of EU's exporters having 50.1 percent (EUR 326 mln) share of the market.

The largest EU recipient of Polish button mushrooms was Germany, which bought over 42,000 tonnes worth EUR 77.6 million. Second place was taken by France, whose customers bought 27,300 tonnes worth EUR 45.5 million.