Editor's note: Recently, "the price of pepper has risen from more than 20 yuan to more than 70 yuan", "the price of atractylodes has risen more outrageously than gold", "why is traditional Chinese medicine getting more and more expensive" and so on have become hot topics. Since last year, the prices of Chinese herbal medicines have shown a general upward trend, and the prices of some medicinal materials have doubled. What is the reason behind the "soaring prices"? Mainland China is the world's largest consumer market for Chinese herbal medicines, what are the changes in the import and export of Chinese herbal medicines? Chinese herbal medicines are in the upstream of the Chinese medicine industry chain, how will their price fluctuations affect the industry?
The pepper of "jumping up and down" and the atractylodes of "creating wealth".
Recently, the domestic Chinese herbal medicine market has experienced another wave of rapid rise. What brought this industry topic into the public eye was a surprising medicinal herb - pepper. Pepper can be used for both medicine and food, and can be used as a spice and medicine. According to the price index data related to Chinese herbal medicines, from January to May this year, the pepper monthly index has soared from 646.66 to 901.32. The "Global Times" reporter found on the 27th that the current price of black pepper is 50 yuan per kilogram, and the price index increased by 25.6% month-on-month, 76.7% quarter-on-quarter, and 85.2% year-on-year.
"For some time now, the price of pepper has been 'jumping up and down'. In just a few days, it rose from more than 40 yuan per kilogram to more than 60 yuan, and then fell back to more than 40 yuan in two days. Xu Hongwei, president of the Anhui Provincial Chinese Herbal Medicine Industry Association and chairman of Yaotong.com, told the Global Times on the 27th that pepper imports account for a large proportion, and price changes depend on production on the one hand, and on the other hand, the overall global supply and demand changes will also be directly transmitted to China.
The price of Chinese medicinal herbs is far more than pepper. In April this year, atractylodes, as one of the commonly used medicinal materials, became a "crazy hot spot" that attracted market attention, and the price rose to 180 yuan per kilogram, an increase of 10 times compared with three years ago. Many merchants said that the price was so high that they "dare not take the goods", and rumors such as "hyping Baizhu can make money" have also attracted attention on social media.
Xu Hongwei said that since the beginning of this year, Chinese medicinal materials such as atractylodes, white peony, danpi, and cat's claw grass have all belonged to categories with rapid ups and downs and obvious fluctuations. If the timeline is extended, the price index of traditional Chinese medicine on the "Yaotong Network" has risen from 1,000 points in 2017 to 1,700 points recently, an increase of 70% in seven years.
Yang Xiaojie, who works in Beijing, remembers that in the past decade, the price of Chinese herbal medicine has risen by much more than 70 percent. She told the Global Times that since 2008, she has been regularly taking medicine for her father, who is suffering from chronic diseases, and needs to run between well-known Chinese medicine hospitals and Chinese medicine pharmacies, grasp the prescriptions prescribed by doctors, and ask pharmacies to make medicine pills that are easy to store and take. "There is a cost change factor caused by the adjustment of the prescription. But overall, the cost of the same course of treatment spent on the father's medication has increased by more than 10 times. Yang Xiaojie told reporters.
Xu Hongwei believes that the reasons for the price increase of different Chinese herbal medicines are different. Affected by factors such as resource scarcity, difficulty of picking, planting cost, and yield reduction caused by natural disasters, the supply of different types of medicinal materials fluctuates greatly, which affects the price. In addition, the production of Chinese herbal medicines depends on the adjustment of market supply and demand, which is prone to lag, resulting in some ups and downs.
Jia Haibin, deputy secretary-general of the Breeding and Breeding Committee of the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said in an interview with the Global Times that in recent years, the people's demand for traditional Chinese medicine health care has been strong, which has also led to the rapid growth of the consumption of Chinese herbal medicines.
Supply and demand in some overseas markets are booming
Doctors at the Overseas Chinese Medicine Hospital in Thailand weigh Chinese herbal medicines. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
At the Thai Overseas Chinese Medicine Hospital, located in the old town of Bangkok, doctors and nurses work methodically in the consultation rooms on various floors. Patients of different skin tones sit quietly in designated areas, waiting for consultations or payment for medicines.
The Global Times reporter observed that although it was a working day, there was an endless stream of patients coming for consultation, including patients from Europe and the United States. The hospital's Chinese medicine pharmacy is not far from the medicine collection window, and is responsible for the preparation, decoction and distribution of Chinese herbal medicines in the whole hospital. Pharmacy doctor Na Cha told the Global Times that there are currently more than 1,100 kinds of traditional Chinese medicines, such as traditional Chinese medicine decoction pieces, traditional Chinese medicine granules, Chinese patent medicines, in-hospital preparations and health care products.
Lu Haigui, vice president of the Overseas Chinese Medicine Hospital in Thailand, told the Global Times that there are currently more than 1,800 professional TCM physicians in Thailand, many of whom have opened clinics, and the demand for Chinese herbal medicines, Chinese patent medicines and granules is increasing year by year. "After the end of the pandemic, Thais are paying more attention to their health, and their recognition of herbal medicine and traditional Chinese medicine has also increased." Lu Haigui said.
Nacha told reporters that the monthly dispensing volume of this traditional Chinese medicine hospital is about 13 tons, "because the sales are very large, every time 10 kilograms of medicinal materials come, they are used up in a day or two." We import medicinal materials from qualified Chinese herbal medicine decoction pieces factories in China, and pay attention to their humidity and status in real time to ensure the safety and efficacy of patients' medication. ”
In fact, as the world's largest consumer market for Chinese herbal medicines, China is not only a producer and exporter of Chinese herbal medicines, but also the largest importer of Chinese herbal medicines. In recent years, due to rising labor costs, limited land resources, and changes in planting technology, the import volume of some Chinese medicinal materials has shown a continuous growth trend.
The Global Times reporter learned that in 2023, there will be a total of 65 countries/regions importing Chinese medicinal materials in the mainland, mainly in Asia, mainly Thailand, India, Indonesia, etc., and the main varieties are pepper, fig, betel nut, etc. Among them, Kazakhstan saw the largest increase in imports.
Take Thailand as an example, where the climate and geographical conditions are suitable for growing a variety of Chinese medicinal materials with a wide range of applications, such as turmeric, licorice, ginseng, etc. In recent years, the Thai government has also given some support to the cultivation of Chinese herbal medicines and the export of herbal products, providing preferential policies and subsidies to encourage farmers and enterprises to participate in the cultivation and trade of Chinese herbal medicines.
According to Euromonitor International's report, Thailand ranks 8th in the world in terms of retail sales of herbal products, behind Chinese mainland, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Germany, Italy and Taiwan. From 2017 to 2022, Thailand exported more than 12.2 billion baht (1,000 baht is about 197 yuan) of herbal raw materials and products, ranking first in Southeast Asia.
According to the data of the General Administration of Customs, from 2015 to 2023, the overall trend of the import and export volume of Chinese herbal medicines in the mainland is stable, with about 300,000 tons of Chinese herbal medicines imported per year in the past three years, with a value of about 12 billion yuan, and about 100,000 tons of Chinese herbal medicines exported per year, with a total value of about 5 billion yuan.
Standardized planting is a "good recipe"
What is the circulation logic of the Chinese herbal medicine industry chain? Xu Hongwei told the Global Times that in the planting process, Chinese medicinal materials are agricultural and sideline products, and medicinal farmers grow and sell them to traditional Chinese medicine processing enterprises in the bazaar or Chinese herbal medicine market.
"After the medicinal materials are cut, fried, steamed and other processing methods to form traditional Chinese medicine decoction pieces, the product properties are transformed into drugs, or directly or through wholesale enterprises into traditional Chinese medicine pharmacies, chain pharmacies, hospitals and other places."
In the face of rapidly growing demand, capacity improvement has become a shortcoming in the industry. Jia Haibin told reporters that the current planting methods and circulation systems of most Chinese medicinal materials cannot support the demand for large-scale industrialization, "which is the root cause of the contradiction between supply and demand."
Especially in the past three years, the demand for proprietary Chinese medicines and Chinese herbal decoction pieces has grown rapidly, and the lack of inventory has exacerbated the contradiction between supply and demand. Jia Haibin said that the demand for decoction pieces alone has grown rapidly from more than 9,200 tons in 2019 to more than 14,600 tons, an increase of 58.7%.
Jia Haibin believes that this round of price increases in Chinese herbal medicines will bring a series of knock-on effects, including an increase in the production cost of enterprises and the cost of drugs for the public. In addition, changes in the supply and demand relationship of the Chinese herbal medicine market are prone to lag, "which may also lead to the blind expansion of production in some producing areas, laying the groundwork for subsequent price declines."
Standardization is an important channel to promote traditional Chinese medicine to the world. Xu Hongwei believes that the current planting of Chinese medicinal materials in the mainland is carried out by traditional agricultural and sideline product planting, and the proportion of large-scale and intensive production is increasing, but the overall proportion is still not high.
The planting process and processing standards are not clear enough, and the monitoring standards for pesticide and fertilizer residues are not clear, which have also become the shortcomings of the further development of the industry. "The absence of these standards will affect the quality of Chinese herbal medicines, and will also affect the effectiveness of TCM treatment." Xu Hongwei told reporters.
On January 1 this year, the "Measures for the Administration of Drug Standards" issued by the State Food and Drug Administration was implemented, proposing more specifications and testing requirements for drugs. Previously, in October 2023, the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine also issued the "Measures for the Management of Traditional Chinese Medicine Standards", which will be implemented from the date of issuance. Increasing production capacity and continuously promoting the standardization and cultivation of Chinese herbal medicines has become a "good prescription" for the inheritance, innovation and development of traditional Chinese medicine in the mainland.