William Trapon, head of Trapon Champignons, gives us the lowdown on the chanterelle season, which this year promises to be quite big. His company specializes in wild produce such as mushrooms, blueberries, wild garlic and wild asparagus.
Fresh chanterelle mushrooms.
"Perfect weather conditions for chanterelle mushrooms"
While many French crops suffer from excess water, the situation is quite the opposite for wild chanterelle mushrooms in the southwest and Massif Central region of France. "The rainfall balance is very much in our favor this year. It is neither too hot nor too cold, and above all, it rains regularly. These are perfect weather conditions to obtain substantial volumes this year. Admittedly, we are a long way from matching the volumes of 20 years ago, but we should have a great season ahead of us," explains William Trapon. This contrasts with previous years, especially 2023, when the heatwaves resulted in the worst September on record."
While Eastern Europe usually has large volumes at this time of year, the drought in Romania and Poland and the forest fires in Bulgaria have led to a drastic drop in production.
Frozen chanterelle mushrooms.
A slower demand
This year's weather conditions have been very favourable for production, but detrimental to consumption. "We are seeing a real slowdown in demand." Rainy weather does not go hand in hand with open terraces. "It is a real shame, especially during the holidays." Inflation is also holding back sales. "Wild mushrooms are still a festive and fairly expensive product, but the priority for consumers these days is their wallets," explains the manager, who remains hopeful that the good weather will soon return.
Fresh blueberries.
Trapon Champignons buys out Monteil
The company, which is based in the Puy-de-Dôme, has decided to invest more in dried/frozen products by buying out Monteil (Brive-la-Gaillarde), "the biggest mushroom producer of the 1990s." This is a way of "broadening its client base" at a time when the fresh mushroom market is in turmoil.
For more information:
Trapon Champignons
109 Avenue de Lyon
63600 Ambert - France
Tel.: +33 (0)4 73 82 20 08
Email: [email protected]
www.traponchampignons.fr