Internationally, the market for shiitake and other specialty mushrooms is steadily growing year on year.
The Chinese company Imperial Garden Biotech supplies the global specialty mushroom and shiitake market. The company produces substrate logs that are exported globally. International clients and growers can use these logs to grow shiitake within 15 days.
Harrison Feng is director of sales at the company: “Our main focus is the international shiitake market. 90% of our production is shiitake substrate. In addition, we also produce substrate for some other mushroom varieties, such as the medical lion mane mushroom, lingzhi and maitake varieties. We specialized in shiitake mushrooms because this is globally a well-known variety and is accepted and appreciated by consumers around the world.”
The company supplies numerous international markets, including Japan, South Korea, Europe and USA.
Fresh shiitake ready for retail sales
“The exotic mushroom market is a growing market. Consumers learn about different mushroom varieties if they are looking for alternatives to meat. Because we are reaching new companies internationally, sometimes people are not familiar with shiitake substrate from China and have questions about the material, quality and yield. Usually, we can address these questions through communication and showcasing our factory. Clients are typically sensitive to yield and price, they are not typically looking for a branded product.”
The company produces year-round shiitake substrate logs. The substrate is cultivated in auto air controlled facilities, seasonality does not affect the production process. Harrison explains: “Most of our growers have professional growing facilities and can produce mushrooms also all year round. In the past few years the global market continued to grow by 5% to 7% per year. However, we expect that Covid-19 has subdued growth. It is difficult to predict numbers, but we believe future growth will be slightly higher.”
For more information:
Harrison Feng, Director of Sales
Shandong Imperial Garden Biotech
sales@igshiitake.com
www.igshiitake.com
www.globalshiitake.com (to be launched soon)