Price and condition 2009

A quick round up for those journalists who keep emailing and asking me:

1. Is it a bumper year, or is there a shortage of mistletoe.

And 

2. Are prices high or low.

Answers:  

1. This is a 'glut year - loads of decent mistletoe.  To clarify - this doesn't mean there's more mistletoe than usual - it just means that the plants have large numbers of berries, and so are more saleable.   There is no shortage - sorry to disappoint those journalists who always (why?) seem to want to report a shortage.

2. Because of the answer to 1, wholesale prices are relatively low.  To clarify - this dosen't mean that prices in the shops will be low - only wholesale prices for raw freshly harvested are low.  The profit margin on mistletoe is so low after transport and trimming and re-transport, that retail prices will probably be the same as usual.   

And if you want to ask about swine flu - I'll do a round-up of mistletoe angles on that soon...

Hope that helps!

For a recent newspaper article on the subject try yesterday's Telegraph