Shandong Qihe Biotechnology Co Ltd – located in Zibo city in East China's Shandong province – has become the largest production center for edible mushrooms in China and the largest export supplier of shiitake mushrooms in the world.
An interior view of the intelligent control center that operates at the heart of Shandong Qihe Biotechnology Co Ltd. [Photo/zbnews.net]
Founded in 2000, Qihe Biotech is mainly engaged in the R&D, production, sales and exports of mushrooms – having grown from a small shop into a smart factory workshop and launching eight foreign subsidiaries, exporting products to over 30 countries.
As early as 2005, it established its first subsidiary in South Korea, exporting mushrooms from China and producing fresh mushrooms in South Korea.
From 2010 to 2021, it built three production plants in China and its production capacity of shiitake mushrooms rapidly increased from 3 million to more than 75 million per year.
The enterprise set up the first shiitake mushroom intelligent chemicals plant in 2020 and that year hit operating revenue of 636 million yuan ($92.71 million).
To promote the quality of its products, it worked with Shandong Agricultural University to realize real-time analysis of the industry using big data.
What's more, it introduced an intelligent controls system, boosting its production efficiency five-fold and reducing operating costs by a third.
To break through the bottleneck of its dependence on imported species of mushrooms, the company established the Qihe Biotechnology Research Institute with an investment of 50 million yuan. Currently, it spends more than three percent of its annual revenue on new technology and equipment.
Moving forward, plans are for it to open 100 intelligent production centers in China over the next five years and expand its sales to over 100 countries and regions. This will create a projected global market share of more than 80 percent.
