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