Mushrooming growth for a special product

ANOTHER hi-tech, clean-room product that Singaporeans can find in the supermarkets here are Maitake, Bunashimeji and Bunapi mushrooms under the Hokto label.

The Maitake mushrooms are flown in from Japan, while the two other varieties are grown in Selangor, Malaysia, since Japan's Hokuto Corporation set up a plant under its Malaysian subsidiary, Hokto, in 2012.

The company supplies some 30 tonnes of mushrooms per month to Singapore, and demand continues to grow, says Tadao Yamamoto, managing director of Hokto Malaysia. "We've plans to develop the market for our specialty mushrooms in Vietnam, Thailand, and Indonesia," he reveals.