Shiitake mushroom spawn is the culture medium used to grow shiitake mushrooms. As a large mushroom production country, China's exports of mushroom spawn are steadily increasing year by year. However, due to the coronavirus outbreak, export has been severely hindered over recent months. Sun Zhendong, head of Qihe Biotech talked about their recent sales in overseas markets.

"In Europe and North America, shiitake mushrooms are considered a luxury item rather than an essential food item. The drop in market demand during the coronavirus outbreak has been having a serious impact on our sales. From February to March, our volume sold in China dropped by about 10% compared with the same period in previous years.

"Our exports increased by 40% year-on-year in February, but have been affected since mid-March, as with Europe and North America becoming more seriously affected by the coronavirus outbreak, local restaurants have been shut down and the market consumption power is insufficient, so many of our customers have suspended their import orders,” the manager said.

"Although the demand in the European and North American markets is not strong, our recent exports to Asian countries are still relatively stable, especially in Japan and South Korea where market demand has made a significant comeback, and the export volume has increased by 45% over the same period in previous years. This is mainly due to the fact that unlike the European and Northern American countries, Asian countries have a tradition of eating shiitake mushrooms, and people are generally aware of their health benefits. Therefore, during the coronavirus outbreak, instead of consuming less, consumers in these countries have increased their consumption,” Sun said. “The export price of shiitake mushroom spawns has been relatively stable. The current export price is about 1 euro per piece."

"The yield of shiitake mushrooms grown with spawns is about 30% higher than that with packed culture, and the cultivation time is about twice as short (7-10 days). In addition, the produced shiitake mushrooms are better in taste and higher in nutritional value.

"Nowadays, not only large factories but many consumers in Europe and the United States buy mushroom spawn directly from the market and grow mushrooms at home,” the manager said. “Due to their rich nutritional value and unique flavor, shiitake mushrooms are gradually being known among overseas consumers. Their lucrative margin has also attracted many overseas manufacturers to import mushroom spawns from China to grow locally and sell directly. Our export volume last year was about 50 million pieces, and our annual export growth rate is stable at 30-40%."

In addition to shiitake mushroom spawns, products exported by Shandong Qihe Biotech also include oyster mushroom spawns and fresh mushrooms including Qihe Guomu shiitake mushrooms and Qihe king oyster mushrooms. "We hope to create an industrial model of fresh mushrooms from Chinese spawn grown abroad and supplied locally.”

Source: freshplaza.com – 22^nd April 2020

Image by Connie Tucker from Pixabay