Chris Alonzo, president of Pietro Industrie s and AMI in the USA.
CHINA
Jubilee in Zhangzhou
From 15 to18 November, the tenth successive edition of the Chinese Mushroom Days was held in Zhangzhou, Fujian. With some 2000 participants and around 90 stands, this fair once again confirmed its position as the key industry event in Asia.
By Roel Dreve and John Peeters T
he trade fair and congress kicked off on 15 November, but the event was – in what has by now become a tradition – preceded by an Agaricus workshop. On the evening of the 14th, all the participants were treated to a Welcome Banquet sponsored by China Greenfresh Group. This was hosted in the Wanda Realm conference hotel and featured many colourful song and dance performances (see centre spread). Mr Liu of the CFNA, who was again responsible with his team for the well-oiled organisation, welcomed the many guests.
Plenty of speeches featured at the opening ceremony on 15 November. The acting mayor, the president of the CFNA and Professor Yu Li spoke on the region’s importance as the ‘capital of mushrooms and canned food’, the evolution of the Chinese Mushroom Days into the globally respected event it is today and the stellar rise of the mushroom industry in China, where mushrooms now occupy fifth ranking in the list of agricultural produce grown in China. ISMS chairman Greg Seymour explained that his organisation has sponsored the event since its beginnings. “Logically, as it unites the interna- tional sector.”
Chinese mushrooms In his keynote lecture, Prof. Yu Li then sketched the state of affairs in the Chinese mushroom sector. The number of productive farms is declining, more companies are listed on the stock exchange and industrial-scale production ‘factories’ are gaining ground to the detriment
8 MUSHROOM BUSINESS
of small, family-run farms. “We are witnessing the emergence of new categories and cultivation methods, and branding plays an immense role. Advanced automation is pushing out manual labour, and Chinese innovations and patents are dominant, whereas in the past China was more dependent on an influx of technology from nations such as Korea and Japan.” The professor also drew the audience’s attention to some bottlenecks in the sector’s development. “One of these is a lack of domestic knowledge compa- red with the expertise foreign companies have on mushroom growing. We have a lot of catching up ahead, which is a time-consuming and complicated task. We need more specific research and have to set realistic goals.” A sea-change in thinking is also required accor- ding to Yu Li: “Comme ci, comme ça” is not the right attitude, drop the focus on copying and start developing our own creativity.” According to him, greater investments in sustainability are also called for, as well as market-driven produc- tion and more stable price development. This philosophy was reflected in Greg Seymour’s lecture (also director of Third Food Kingdom consultancy). He showed some recent statistics which reveal that between 2005 and 2015 production of Black Wood Ear in particular, has grown explosively (from one to 6.25 million tons). Shiitake production rose from 2.57 to 7.66 million tons. The decline in exports (by 33%) of canned mushrooms over the same period is striking, and the increase in exports of dried shiitake. The greatest challenge facing the Chinese sector sees Seymour in ‘Food Integrity’,
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