Mushroom prices

My comments regarding price fixing is based on local shopping. Any variation to price is duplicated from store to store. The range of price, is surprisingly narrow and seems ( at face value ) to be almost coriagraphed.
I find it interesting that you seem to believe " alls fair in marketing"
You must agree however that to make false claims about a product is illegal.
There were certainly claims made by the Chef/Influencers that I yelled BS at.
I cannot remember the wording, but do remember my digust.
As a Chef my entire working life was to know what every component of a dish cost.
I assure you, mushrooms have increased over many other foods.
They are not the only deviant product.
Bread is there too.
But that’s another day’s argument. :grin:

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I live in the Greater Brisbane area of Qld. My normal Green Grocers (I have two preferred GGs) have them almost always at $7.99 a kg, they also at times on special drop the price to around $4.99 a kg. The free boxes are from another general goods shop.

If I bother going to the Rocklea Markets I find Mushrooms from suppliers are generally around $5 - $6 per kg (you have to buy a box though so quite a few mushrooms) sometimes a small bit less sometimes a bit more. Considering that a GG has to make a profit and risk the loss of any old product they didn’t sell a mark up of around 100% would seem normal. Same goes for other fruit and veg, price at the markets is about 1/2 or less than of what is sold at retailers.

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Have you tried local produce markets in Tassie. We have recently moved here and we are yet to go to one (have been closed due to COVID)…but the locals say that they are far better, cheaper and fresher than supermarkets or fruit and vege stores.

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Wow! I live in regional SA: the duopoly sells around $11/kg, Aldi about $10, & my local IGA $13, most of the year. Occasional specials drop the price, plus seasonal (??) variation: currently a bit less/kg. I understand mushrooms are a good source of meat replacement (not for protein) in vegetable based diets - maybe these prices are “what the market will bear”???

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Seems like a general mark up at retailers of about 100% from wholesale market prices, so within reason they would see it as. Florists for their flowers can have markups of around 300%…that’s too big I feel but I understand the 100% in easily perishable foods.

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I can’t say that I noticed any “sharp rise” in mushrooms. I have been buying the occasional flat cap and cups for decades, and grew my own in kits for a while.

In rural & remote areas they have always been about $15 - $20/kg - which I suppose means they have not risen with inflation. Being on a very limited budget a few years back I always chose the oldest, dehydrated flat cap to get more mushy per buck.

Our Foodworks has mushroom cups on special.
image

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I’m south of Hobart. The two veg markets ( at Margate and Oyster Cove ) are both more expensive.
Perhaps this is a Tassie ripoff?

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When you speak of box? Do you mean the ( relying on memory because I haven’t seen them in years )…3-5kg boxes that keep producing mushrooms as you use them.
What price per box? Please.
This is all good information. Thanks.

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That’s quite a leap don’t you think? $15 per kg.
There wasn’t a sharp rise. It has been well managed I’d say.
Perhaps I’m the only one thinking this is taking advantage.
I am easily annoyed, once something seems to be priced according to advertising power.
Bollocks to that…:joy::rofl::joy::rofl:

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Not a leap - over 30 years in Rural & Remote - the price has not changed (ie in real terms it has reduced).

The price fluctuates, as do all fresh produce. Mushrooms in remote areas are a luxury item. Only the ordinary mushrooms are for sale. Mushroom kits (grow your own at home) are still for sale.

It is an industry that is easy to enter and has a number of people “living the dream” setting up small organic, specialist operations, selling at farmers’ markets, hoping to break into the restaurant trade. They tend to grow the more exotic breeds. As such, you pay for their back story, the organic tag, their innovations, hand picked quality. Maybe this is the “price increase” you are talking about - not the general supermarket price?

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In some cases this behaviour does indicate collusion but it can easily happen without it. Price following is common in open markets. A competitor lowers their price you have to drop yours or lose sales volume. A competitor raises their price so you have the choice of sticking and trying to increase volume or lifting with them and improving your margin. I Unless you have more evidence there is no reason to assume conspiracy.

I don’t know where you get that I have said nothing of the kind. For the record: not all markets are fair and not all marketing is honest. Supposition does not aid in distinguishing which ones are or are not.

It depends. Puffery is permitted. In any case there are hundreds of products that are claimed to have benefits to health and this is nothing new and does not show there is any industry conspiracy. It shows that people tend to be gullible and confused about what they should eat and many vendors try to use that.

So far I am not seeing anything other than your anecdotes about industry misdeeds and price fixing.

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" Puffery is permitted "?
My response to that little gem can’t easily be put into words as it was more a sound I made using my tongue in a vibratory way.
I guess you just can’t see the connections. The immense amounts of money spent ln a product to increase it’s market share.

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No the boxes are how the mushrooms you buy in stores are supplied, they weigh about 4 kg per box.

The kits you are perhaps thinking about are available from various businesses, some are worth it money wise others only from the personal satisfaction side. While I’m sure there are many more the following are just some of the suppliers for you to look at.

https://www.mrfothergills.com.au/pages/edible-garden/post-white-button-mushroom-kits/

https://mushroomkit.com.au/

As to puffery, it is quite prevalent in the Ad industry. Some of the allowed claims I find quite atrocious and I feel strongly puffery should be not allowed. There is a topic on the site about it:

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Views are certainly welcome. I am not happy to accept your conclusion at the moment and that has nothing to do with you personally, or my financial situation, but more my habit of leaving questions open until evidence is provided one way or another.

I don’t work for the mushroom industry or anything related to this question, I have no brief to defend them. As I said at the start - this is all new to me. I am in fact not defending them, I am not saying they are squeaky clean or any degree of dirty, just that lacking any data I don’t know.

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For interest, I purchased everyday white button mushrooms at Woolies this morning SE Qld regional store. $10/kg as a 500gm prepackaged container.

I could have alternately purchased a 200gm pack priced at $20/kg! Loose fully developed and white button mushrooms were $11/kg. Good buying over the previous 12 months has been anything less than $10/kg. We occasionally see super large mushrooms (10-12cm caps) on special for $6-8/kg.

Occasionally Woolies have loose portobello or Swiss browns. It’s not uncommon to see these priced loose at the same cost per kg as the whites!

The only rip off evident here is checking your unit pricing carefully, and not buying when a product is in short supply. IE priced above long term averages for your part of Australia.

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This industry journal suggests that during 2019 the price of mushrooms fell about 12%. The data is from a Nielsen survey series. This is a repeated paid survey so my guess is that there is more data available but I don’t know how to get it.

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Thankyou all. This has been most helpful. My first posting.
Especially for the information on various mushroom delivery companies( my new friends…bad luck woolies)
Thanks too for helping me define my gripe better.

Cooks and Soil Technicians. I may return to this at a later date.
That’s it for now.
I’ve said my piece…time for more important battles.
Look forward to future postings.
Thanks from a Mad Chef :apple:

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I decided to buy a grow your own mushroom kit this morning and found the website of mushroomkit.com.au which lists Qld suppliers as Home Hardware & Timber, Mitre 10 and Masters (Ha Ha).

I then found that the only Mitre 10 in the Cairns region had closed down along with the only Home Timber & Hardware and the True Value Hardware store leaving no other hardware stores in Cairns except for Bunnings and Cairns Hardware, neither of which stock mushroom kits.

I called Mitre 10 Mareeba, the only remaining Mitre 10 store in FNQ, to no avail.

I have ordered 2 Swiss Brown/ Portabello kits online from Garden Express as I could not buy a kit in FNQ.

Bunnings and Cairns Hardware have now eliminated all competition between Tully and Cooktown except for the Mitre 10 and TGT in Mareeba which as yet does not have a Bunnings store.

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Might be worth watching Landline today: there’s a story about some people who got hooked on mushroom growing - after being gifted G.Y.O kit…

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Yes. I read the article on the ABC News website this morning.

It was what prompted me to buy a kit today.

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