FOCUS: Domestic shiitake producers enjoying high prices again+

OITA, Japan, Feb. 3 Kyodo - Oita Prefecture boasts of being the largest producer of dried shiitake mushrooms in Japan but has been taking the brunt of imports of low-priced products from China.

The southwestern Japan prefecture accounted for around a quarter of the 16,000
tons of shiitake mushrooms produced in the country at the peak of output in
1984. Nationwide production was down to about 3,500 tons in 2007, the latest
year for which data are available, including about 1,300 tons from Oita
Prefecture.
In December, mushroom growers received welcome news at the dried shiitake
distribution center run by the Oita shiitake agricultural cooperative in the
city of Oita when it was confirmed that the average bidding price in 2008 was
4,859 yen per kilogram.
The price was lower than the 6,812 yen recorded in 1983 but better than the
price of around 2,000 yen recorded in the second half of the 1980s in the face
of increased imports of Chinese mushrooms.
The agricultural cooperative with a membership of about 4,000 conducts tenders
26 times a year. Tender prices in the range of 5,000 yen were posted eight
times in 2007 and 15 times in 2008. The prices bid at the center usually have
an impact on domestic shiitake prices.
The return to higher prices is apparently being aided by consumer concern about
food safety in the wake of tainted food products from abroad.
Eiji Kugumiya, who advises the cooperative, said the resurgence in prices
largely reflects the fact that ''ordinary consumers are opting for domestic
shiitake and steering clear of Chinese products due to a series of scandals
involving Chinese-made food products last year.''
Imports of Chinese mushrooms exceeded 9,000 tons in 1997 but dropped to around
7,000 tons in 2007. Kugumiya said most of the imports were supplied to
businesses.
Oita mushroom producers employ a technique called ''cultivation on withered
logs,'' growing shiitake on logs from trees such as Japanese chestnut oaks.
Chinese growers produce more mushrooms than their Japanese counterparts by
employing a ''fungus bed'' method to boost output in which they inject
nutritional supplements into hardened sawdust from broad-leaved trees.
The Oita shiitake agricultural cooperative's membership of 4,000 represents a
decline of about 2,600 from 25 years ago. The average age of the members is 68.
Akio Isogai of Saiki, Oita Prefecture, said the number of shiitake growers in
the prefecture dropped because mushroom cultivation was viewed as no longer
economically viable.
''There used to about 30 households growing shiitake in our district but the
number has declined to five,'' said Isogai who has grown shiitake for 40 years.
''Most of them quit during the three years (when prices were extremely low).''
Iwate Prefecture in northeastern Japan, which vies with Oita in the growing of
good quality shiitake, has also lost some growers.
''The number of shiitake growers has fallen from a peak of around 3,400 to
about 2,000,'' an official in the forestry promotion division of the
prefectural government said.
Oita cooperative adviser Kugumiya said he wants to put an end to the aging of
the membership by encouraging postwar baby boomers and companies to take part
in shiitake cultivation.
''We have a good opportunity to expand production and improve the quality of
shiitake as high prices have returned,'' he said.