Natural Treasures

Unusually heavy rains have reduced the mushroom harvest in Yunnan province creating a fungi rush as prices soar. Xu Junqian reports in Shanghai.

While the untypical weather in Southwest China's Yunnan province this summer has resulted in disastrous floods and mudslides, it has been good news for the region's mushroom dealers, as half the average rainfall from May to early June, followed by 40 days of consecutive storms has made wild, edible mushrooms scarce, pushing up prices.

"The prices of wild fungi, matsutake in particular, have soared," says Yan Ji, a 32-year-old native of Kunming, who is one of hundreds of mushroom dealers in the province.