Ireland’s biggest mushroom players have teamed up on a campaign which they hope will see their product viewed by buyers as equivalent to British.
Irish mushroom producers have voiced complaints that UK retailers are increasingly asking for UK mushrooms and now consider Irish mushrooms as “foreign”.
Monaghan Mushrooms, Breffni Mushrooms, Walsh Mushrooms and the Commercial Mushroom Producers Co-operative Society Ltd (CMP) have teamed up to launch the Stock Local, Stock Irish campaign, kicking off this month with press advertising, direct marketing and PR.
Independent market research found that the vast majority of UK consumers perceive Irish mushrooms to be local and 86 per cent of consumers are happy to buy from any part of the British Isles, including Ireland.
CMP ceo Thomas Martin said: “The aim of this campaign is to enlighten UK retailers that buying Irish is perceived by consumers as buying local and to remind them of the various benefits of buying Irish mushrooms, both for consumer satisfaction and also for profit opportunities.”
Imported mushrooms make up 60 per cent - 109,000 tonnes - of mushroom sales in the UK, a total market valued at £350 million. Some 46,000t of mushroom are exported to the UK from Ireland each year, representing 26 per cent of the UK market and £125m in sales.
Irish and UK mushroom producers have also collaborated to secure €2.6m of funding for a consumer-facing campaign to further educate the British public on the benefits of mushrooms.
