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Hello Ruth,
These are very important questions however you will find that answers are very hard to come by. Part of NATGA’s mission is to come up with the data, but it has been a challenging endeavor for multiple reasons.
Secrecy. Traditional truffle production is associated with black market and hidden harvest spots. This is still ingrained in the practice. It will be very hard to get accurate numbers from the traditional channels. Australian and to a certain extend Spaniards are changing that practice and recognize the value of an open market.
Lack of production. In the North American continent production is only a very small proportion of the demand. So we don’t significant data on the supply side, beside import. Most volume imports is done by a handful of importers that are still very much intrenched in the old world “business” practices. Further, restaurants would gladly serve truffles if they could rely on a consistent supply of quality truffles. So current market size is grossly under estimated.
Global import does not accurately distinguish truffles. As you know truffles are many different products and often they are amalgamated with mushrooms. So I found using border control reports and such to be useless, not even to get an idea of scales.
Please share any information you would find this would be a grate service to the community.