We shot ourselves in the foot: Forest products from unfriendly countries have difficulty reaching Lithuania

 

“Mushroom purchase points have been flooded with chanterelles – pickers bring them here in buckets, and carrying them is also worthwhile: for 1 kg of these orange delicacies, buyers pay more than market buyers – 4-5 euros. The majority of these mushrooms will be exported, and mushroom imports, when mushrooms used to arrive en masse from our unfriendly neighboring countries last year, are almost non-existent this year – the situation has been regulated by the huge customs duties applied by the EU.

 

Prices have increased

 

Last week, 1 liter of chanterelles cost about 2 euros at the Kaunas Station Market, a small bunch (about 0.5 kg) of boletus mushrooms cost 10 euros, and red mushrooms cost 8 euros. Virginijus Varanavičius, head of the Lithuanian Forest Mushroom and Berry Entrepreneurs Association (LMGUVA), says that it is more profitable for mushroom pickers to bring chanterelles to the purchase points points, because here they are even more expensive: about 4-5 euros are paid for 1 kg of chanterelles, and in popular terms, 1 kg is about 1.7 l. This price is a perennial standard.

 

Currently, chanterelles are mainly collected and purchased, and the purchase price improved just a week ago. Until then, 1 kg of these beautiful mushrooms cost about 1 euro per 1 kg, which was due to the rains - the mushrooms were of very poor quality, simply soaked.

 

“The season for other mushrooms, boletus, red mushrooms, has not yet started, so there is no supply yet. Autumn mushrooms have not yet started in the Dzūkija region,” says the head of LMGUVA. “We are waiting for the beginning of September, although no one can predict what the season will be: sometimes the conditions are good, but there are no mushrooms.”

 

LMGUVA unites more than ten companies engaged in the mushroom and berry business. They operate in various regions of Lithuania and buy mushrooms from both individual mushroom pickers and small buyers who themselves travel around the villages and buy them from residents.

 

Mushrooms have not left Dzūkija

 

For some time now, there has been a myth circulating in Lithuania that mushrooms have already left Dzūkija and moved to Samogitia. In recent years, more and more mushrooms have been picked there, especially red mushrooms and boletus. V. Varanavičius denies this myth: “Those mushrooms haven’t gone anywhere – there are better years, there are worse years, it’s just a bubble that’s been blown up here. Maybe this is my subjective opinion, but Samogitia will never have mushrooms like, for example, in Varėna. Samogitia’s forests are simply not suitable for mushrooms. There are no chanterelles there at all, because deciduous trees predominate, and chanterelles are mushrooms of coniferous and pine forests.”

 

According to V. Varanavičius, even the composition of Samogitian boletus, as a mushroom, is somewhat different, and the smell is sometimes like that of a coniferous forest, and sometimes like a deciduous one!

 

Mostly exported

 

What will be done with the purchased chanterelles? According to V. Varanavičius, if their quality is good, they are mostly exported fresh. They are packed in bags of the size desired by the customer and exported. The most common export routes are Italy, Germany and France. “In these countries, there may be mushrooms in the forests, but there are no mushroom pickers. By the way, we are already having a problem with mushroom picking. It is exclusively done by older people, especially pensioners,” says the businessman. “Young people do not go to the forests, and even older people abroad do not pick mushrooms, they eat imported ones.”

 

Exported mushrooms need to be prepared very well – washed, cleaned, and all the needles removed. This is very painstaking work. Companies are faced with seasonal work, and it is difficult to form a team of 50-60 people at once. In addition, seasonal employment contracts are formed, so those who have permanent jobs do not go.

 

Usually, mushroom purchasing companies have work almost all year round, because they are often engaged not only in the mushroom and berry business, but also in various other activities. “We both freeze and salt mushrooms, different processes take place. The trade of these mushrooms begins in November and ends around February,” says the head of LMGUVA. “Frozen and salted mushrooms also leave Lithuania, only about 10 percent of all mushrooms remain here, or maybe even less.” This is not because Lithuanians do not like mushrooms, it is simply that most compatriots pick mushrooms themselves. According to V. Varanavičius, we are not a nation that would buy mushrooms in a store.

 

The firewalls also worked for mushrooms

 

How many mushrooms are collected in Lithuania per season? “The season is not the same,” says the interviewee. “However, for example, this year, when the chanterelle season is so good, we will definitely have bought about 2 thousand tons, if not more.”

 

The numbers speak for themselves, and considering that some of the collected mushrooms are not sold at all, they remain for processing in amateur cellars or are sold at markets, the numbers of forest products are truly impressive.

 

Last year, there were discussions about mushrooms imported into Lithuania. There was a lot of talk that no sanctions applied to Belarusian and Russian mushrooms. This year the situation is different. Although there are still no sanctions for mushrooms, increased duties on goods from unfriendly countries have taken effect. "The number of imported mushrooms has decreased significantly, but they still arrive, for example, in transit to Poland, and some remain in Lithuania. - This is not something that is not allowed, because there are no sanctions.

 

However, EU customs duties have been introduced on goods from Russia and Belarus - they add about 50 percent to the price, and the imported mushrooms are immediately decreased. The duty on mushrooms is very high, it is simply not worth it to transport them, unless they buy them there for half a penny.

 

We used to calculate that we buy our own and imported mushrooms equally, now we can say that maybe 10 percent is imported. ""