Truffle market opens at €780kg

TOP of the range périgord truffles sold for up to €780 per kilo at the start of the winter market season.

The prices were reached at the first truffle market at Sainte-Alvère in the Dordogne with more than 40kg sold.

At the top end were the two classes of Périgord truffles, the tuber melanosporum with class one selling for €780 per kilo and class two for €650.

The first winter truffle market of 2008 at Jarnac in the Charente saw buyers coming from the Lot, Indre-et-Loire and Dordogne. The market runs throughout December until the end of February and around 45 kg was sold on its first day.

Average prices ranged from €200 per kilo for truffe musquée (tuber brumale Vittadini), €450-€500 for Périgord truffles.

The president of the truffle growers of Poitou-Charentes, Jean-Marie Doublet, said the prices were typical for the start of the season.

At the Aups truffle market in the Var prices ranged from €150 - €400 per kilo on its first day. Market organisers said they would strictly enforce rules on traceability due to problems of fake truffles being sold.

Newspaper Le Monde estimates that 60 tonnes of Chinese truffles tuber indicum are sold at markets at inflated prices. While they resemble their counterparts, they do not carry the same smell and cooking properties.

While the official opening for the winter truffle markets is December 2, 14.00, four communes in the Vaucluse jumped the gun by opening a market on November 15.

Rain during summer and autumn, which had a bad affect on vines north of the Drôme, has benefitted truffles in the area.