[Oss] Männyntuoksuvalmuskasta

Wed, 22 Sep 2004 10:46:34 +0300

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Hei!
Tässäpä kaikille tuoksuvalmuskan poiminnasta myyntiin kiinnostuneille. Niclas Bergius on tutkinut tuoksuvalmuskoita yliopistossa, ja nykyään hän on mukana ryhmässä Skellefteån alueella, joka vie tuoksuvalmuskoita Japaniin. Poimijahinnat ovat n. 17 e/kg, Suomessa Dalla Valle maksaa 13-15 e/kg. Eli sen 1000 e/kg saa näköjään unohtaa :-) , harmi vain! Saataisiinko silti aikaiseksi tännekin poimijaketju? Olisiko joku kiinnostunut puuhahenkilöksi ja viejäksi? Lapissa ovat myös suunnittelemassa poimijarinkiä, asiasta enemmän oli muutama viikko sitten jossain torstain lehdessä Lapin Kansassa, Kirsti Palménia haastateltiin.
Ehkä voitaisiin pyytää Niclasta puhumaan sieni-iltaan joskus?
Kirjoitelkaapa mielipiteitänne!
Terveisin Susanne Anttila
Alla Niclas Bergiuksen viesti:
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Below I will try to explain a little more about matsutake and Japan.
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First I will start with a short background about myself. I am a biologist and started to work at the Swedish University of Agriculture (SLU) in 1997. At that time I was working with cultivation techniques of the golden chanterelle (Cantharellus cibarius), at this link you will find more information about this project: http://www.mykopat.slu.se/mycorrhiza/kantarellfiler/texter/prod1.phtml
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At 1998 I started to work with tuoksuvalmuska/matsutake, and in 2000 I left SLU and started to work for a commercial company named Matsutake AB, the company was started due to the good matsutake-season in Sweden during 1998. At that year some people picked several 100 kilos of matsutake in northern Sweden. The main focus of Matsutake AB is to be able to develop the technique for cultivation of matsutake, so that we will be able to cultivate matsutake in the future. At the beginning Matsutakake AB also was involved in the export of matsutake from Sweden to Japan. But, after some years the company lost interest in that activity. Then (in 2003) a group of skilled mushroom-pickers in the Skellefteå-area started to export matsutake instead. I am one of the members in that group.
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During my work with matsutake I have been to Japan three times, and I plan to go there one more time next year. In Japan a have met a lot of matsutake-scientists and also a lot of matsutake-importers. A have also studied matsutake growing in the Japanese forests, for more information visit this link: http://www.mykopat.slu.se/ex/Niclas/trip/trip.html
I have also been host for several visits to Sweden by Japanese scientists and importers. And they were all impressed by the high quality matsutake.
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And yes, it is possible to find matsutake for sell in Japan that costs around 1000 euro per kilo. But (and this is a very big but), this is top-class Japanese matsutake sold during the right season (the right season starts in late September). Every year Japan imports around 3300 tons of matsutake, mostly from Korea and China but also from Canada, USA, Morocco and Turkey. The best foreign matsutake is the one from South-Korea. South-Korean matsutake of good quality costs around 150 euro per kilo in Japanese shops during the right season. Japanese matsutake is always 5-10 times more expensive than any imported matsutake. If you would like to know more about this I can send some information, otherwise you can ask the Finnish embassy in Tokyo about information.
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Japanese people are very traditional and the Japanese food is special for every different season. The Japanese matsutake-season starts in late September, at this point the matsutake prices doubles (at least). During this period most Japanese people want to eat matsutake at least one time, the matsutake is seen as a symbol of the autumn, It is also symbolize fertility, good fortune, and happiness. It has been eaten by Japanese people for more than a millennium and has become more than just a seasonal delicacy.
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The main season for Swedish matsutake is from early August to mid-September, this is before the “right season” in Japan. But still Swedish matsutake of good quality is sold in Japanese shop for around 110 euro per kilo, I think that this is a very good price level. The Swedish pickers get around 17 euro per kilo for good quality matsutake. I think that this will increase to around 22 euro per kilo in the coming years, as soon as the Japanese customers are starting to get more knowledge of the high quality of the matsutake from the Nordic countries. According to this it is important to keep in mind that the freight cost is paid by the Swedish side, the freight cost is around 33 euro per kilo mushroom when you send smaller amounts.
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At the starting point for the Swedish matsutake-export we had a lot of contacts with several big Japanese importers. The big companies very not willing to pay as much as our new small
scale importer does. The big companies also claimed that we should send at least 50-100 kilo of matsutake at every shipment. The importer that we have used during the last years is also owner of a famous matsutake shop. In this way we can reduce the number of people involved in the chain, and thus of course increase the price-level for the pickers. The big companies sell their mushroom to the matsutake shops and demands profit on very kilo of matsutake, we do not need that step anymore. Nowadays a shipment does not have to consist of more than 10 kilos of matsutake.
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I met the current importer first time when I was Japan in 1999. Since then we have kept contact. 
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My goal with this “Finnish-campaign” is not to make money. The goal is to increase the amount of matsutake sent from Scandinavia to Japan. If the amount increases more and more customers will get to know about Nordic matsutake and the price level will rise. This will be good for both our countries. If you are interested in exporting matsutake I will put you in contact with the Japanese importer. And if you like I will help you to make the first test shipment. Then I will not be any part of the business no more.
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If you like I can help to contribute with packing-material for a test shipment of Finnish matsutake. We have plenty of specially designed cooling-boxes and a lot of other useful material. Do not hesitate to contact me if you are interested in this material.
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This was a very long “answer”, but I think this is the best way to be able to give a picture of the matsutake-business. I hope that you understand my point.
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If you have any questions or remarks, please do not hesitate to contact me.
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Yours sincerely
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<DIV>Niclas Bergius</DIV>
<DIV>&nbsp;</DIV>
<DIV>Matsutake AB</DIV>
<DIV>Umeå</DIV>
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