Hailin’s Lion’s Mane Mushroom Products Enter Hong Kong, Macao Markets

What changed

Hailin, Heilongjiang, known as China’s “hometown of lion’s mane mushrooms,” said its Hericium erinaceus products have entered the Hong Kong and Macao markets. The announcement came at the 2026 Mushroom Industry Development Conference, held in Hailin on Sept. 13. China News Service reported.

The city says the Hong Kong supply base was launched and completed within the same year. Conference agreements covered health-product research, a big-data center, and agricultural-waste recycling. The event also released a mushroom industry model and genomic research findings, with discussions on breeding and pharmaceutical applications.

Hailin has 5,000 standardized growing sheds and five standardized spawn-bag plants. Annual cultivation is about 150 million bags, producing 75,000 tonnes of fresh mushrooms and 450 million yuan in industry output. The sector contributes about 5,000 yuan to average annual farmer income in the region.

Why it matters

The Hong Kong and Macao sales give Hailin’s large production base a new market, but the broader strategy is to move beyond fresh mushrooms into higher-value products such as health supplements and cosmetics. Officials also want to use research, live-commerce sales and rural tourism to expand demand.

That shift could raise the value of existing output if processing, branding and research create products that command premiums. It could also reduce the sector’s dependence on raw mushroom sales. However, the report gives no sales figures or independent measure of consumer demand in Hong Kong and Macao, so the commercial scale of the expansion remains unclear.

What to watch next

The key test will be whether the signed projects become operating businesses and whether Hailin can convert its production scale into stronger margins. Watch for data on Hong Kong and Macao sales, the launch of health and cosmetic products, progress on the data center and waste-recycling projects, and evidence that research-led products generate value beyond the city’s existing 450 million yuan industry base.