Availability of UK mushrooms is receiving a £10 million boost over the next five years with the announcement by Heveco Mushrooms Ltd of a major development programme.

Heveco will boost its year round UK production of fresh white closed cup mushrooms six–fold to 400 tonnes.

Additionally, Heveco will meet customers' specific requirements for baby buttons and flats of both white and brown varieties, supplied loose, labelled or in a range of shrink–wrapped punnets.

Managing director Mark Howarth said: 'We are expecting to double our production every two years at a minimum cost of £1m–£1.5m per stage.' This investment has been geared to ensure there is a solid infrastructure on which to build new business. Expenditure in land, production buildings, a temperature controlled transport fleet, IT and new pack house systems is already in the pipeline Group chairman Huub Heijer said: 'Our strategy is to invest in our own UK base rather than hinge any future expansion on developing our role as an exporter into the UK. We are already seeing the benefits.

'As a group we pride ourselves as being pan– European, but we think locally, making individual country managers into autonomous decision makers.'

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