Japan firm to start soilless culture of mushrooms in Changzhou

CHANGZHOU, China - The Japanese firm Ichimasa Kamaboko will start a new agricultural project in Changzhou National Hi-Tech District (CND), for the production of mushrooms and other fungi. The new venture, Ichimasa Agrotechnology (Changzhou), will cultivate these in soilless medium. Its output will be targeted at high-end restaurants and clubs.

Ichimasa Agrotechnology is the first foreign-invested project that will focus on soilless culture of mushrooms.

Ichimasa Kamaboko, a Niigata, Japan-based publicly traded company, is mainly engaged in the processing of aquatic products and cultivation of organic fungus and mushrooms. The firm has six factories and one cultivation technology centre in Japan and its brand "Ichimasa" is a household name in its home market. The company’s sales exceeded 30 billion yen in 2012. 

The US$36 million venture will focus on industrial production of soilless culture organic fungus and mushrooms with an annual production capacity of 2,000 tonnes.

CND has attracted substantial foreign investment as a result of its superior investment environment. To date the district has attracted a cumulative total of more than US$11.4 billion of agreed and registered foreign capital, having successfully brought in a roster of leading multinational companies including Terex, Gates and Ashland from the United States, Saint-Gobain and Vallourec & Mannemann Tubes from France, Lanxess from Germany, Mettler Toledo from Switzerland, Akzo Nobel from the Netherlands, KOMATSU, Denso, Nippon Steel and Bridgestone from Japan, and Hyundai from South Korea.

Related video: Is this the biggest mushroom?