Chinanews.com, Beijing, June 28 (Wei Xianghui) Recently, the Chinese herbal medicine market has set off a wave of price increases. Zhongxin Health's investigation found that there are actually many speculators behind the scenes, who manipulate the price of Chinese herbal medicines, but in the end the patients pay for it.
The price of Chinese herbal medicines has been blown to the seasoning area
Different from the previous price increase of traditional Chinese herbal medicines, this year has affected the spice category.
Pepper has been hotter lately. Some Chinese herbal medicine merchants revealed to the media that the price of pepper per kilogram is now more than 70 yuan, an increase of more than 50 yuan from January. Previously, the National Development and Reform Commission authorized the release of the Kangmei China Chinese herbal medicine price index network "pepper price trend" showed that the price of black pepper rose from about 25 yuan in January this year to more than 50 yuan; The price of white pepper was 40 yuan/kg at the beginning of the year, and once rose to 76 yuan/kg.
"It's outrageous." Zhongxin Health visited the seasoning wholesale area in Xinfadi, Beijing, and some merchants said that the current market is abnormal. In addition to black pepper, the price of other common spices has also increased, according to a trader. For example, cardamom used to sell for 35 yuan a catty, but now it is 39 yuan, and Xinyi used to sell for 24 or 25 yuan a catty, but now it is sold for 60 yuan.
Spice products sold by merchants in the seasoning trading area of Beijing Xinfadi Agricultural Products Wholesale Market Photo by Wei Xianghui
In the eyes of industry insiders, the price increase of spices is not a normal phenomenon, and the risk of decline is greater, in contrast, the rise of traditional Chinese medicinal materials in recent years is much more stable, due to the contradiction between supply and demand, especially some more concentrated and perennial medicinal materials.
Taking Atractylodes macrocephalus, which is alleged to be "the price soaring more than gold", as an example, its main producing areas are in Anhui, Zhejiang, Henan and other places, but due to the weather, the production has been reduced due to the disaster, and the planting area has decreased, and after the supply of goods enters the actual digestion in 2023, the operators find that the supply source of the market is small, and those who have goods are selling and those who are not looking for the source of goods everywhere, so as to pull the price up.
At the same time, some investors began to take the opportunity to speculate on Chinese herbal medicines, hoarding and pressing goods, pushing up prices. Wang Mingtao, a pharmaceutical merchant from Bozhou, Anhui Province, has recently been bullish on the rally of skullcap. He told Zhongxin Health that he was 30-60 yuan per kilogram when he started, and he is currently hoarding about 40 tons, ready to sell when the market rises to 80 yuan a catty. "The risk of falling Chinese herbal medicines is relatively low." He said.
Large households press goods to make money, and dealers dare not buy goods
Zhongxin Health noticed that there are many videos circulating on the Internet about the pressing routines of Chinese herbal medicines, and there are also pressing artifacts for sale. This group of people claims to be able to connect the production and wholesale base of medicinal materials with downstream customers, and advocate buyers to invest in pressure goods, use short-term entry and exit, and speculate for profit.
Screenshot of the online video tutorial on the pressing of Chinese herbal medicines
But in fact, the main ones who really make money by pressing goods are the big ones with strong funds.
"Chinese herbal medicines are now financial products." Zhang Ming is a Chinese herbal medicine merchant in Dingxi, Gansu Province, and he is mainly engaged in the cultivation, processing and sales of three Chinese herbal medicines: Astragalus, Angelica sinensis and Codonopsis. He said that the goods are in the hands of large households, for example, when Angelica, which has risen sharply in the past two years, rose to seventy or eighty yuan per kilogram, there were no goods in the hands of vendors, and they were all in the hands of large speculators. As long as the big ones don't ship, the market price can't go down.
With enough goods, you will be able to control the pricing power, but the retail investors who follow behind will fall into passivity. Wang Mingtao said that the big investors are all low-priced goods, far below the market price, they sold out the goods, and began to speculate on the second variety.
A number of spice merchants in Xinfadi told Zhongxin Health that they dare not buy goods now. "In case someone monopolizes it, and it is suddenly released in two days, we will have to pay 10 to 20 yuan per catty." A merchant said.
Zhongxin Health learned from the Chinese herbal medicine world network that according to market research, the inventory of 13-20 yuan a kilogram of black pepper is not less than 100,000 tons, and it is precisely because of these low-price inventory impact that the market will plummet from 62 yuan to 43 yuan a kilogram, and the loss will be 608,000 yuan according to the calculation of 32 tons per car.
Many parties are under pressure, and patients pay
Chinese herbal medicines are in the upstream of the Chinese medicine industry chain, and with the rising costs, the pressure of price increases has been transmitted to pharmacies, traditional Chinese medicine hospitals and other channels, and finally the patients pay the bill. A pharmacist at a Chinese medicine pharmacy in Beijing told Zhongxin Health that the price of Chinese herbal medicines has risen, and the price of medicines will also be adjusted. "We are basically adjusting a batch of goods now, and some customers will say how the price is always rising, but we can't help it, the market is like this."
In order to cope with the impact of the rising prices of Chinese herbal medicines, a number of Chinese patent medicine companies have recently issued announcements in response to the fact that they will strengthen the bidding management of Chinese herbal medicines, continue to carry out research and market tracking of Chinese herbal medicines, control the procurement nodes, and promote the cost optimization of Chinese herbal medicines, so as to reduce and avoid the impact of price fluctuations of Chinese herbal medicines on the company's business to the greatest extent.
Data map: Medicine farmers harvest Chinese medicinal materials in the field. (Drone photo). Photo by Gao freshman
In recent years, the planting industry of Chinese medicinal materials has been vigorously developed. According to the data of Qichacha, there are 949,200 Chinese herbal medicine planting-related enterprises in the mainland, and their registration has shown a continuous positive growth trend in the past ten years. Industry insiders believe that with the stable supply of the market, prices are expected to return to rationality.
In July last year, the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine issued a proposal proposing that in order to effectively stabilize the abnormal price fluctuations in the market of Chinese herbal medicines and ensure the quality and market supply of drugs, it is resolutely opposed to any form of price gouging and manipulation of medicinal materials, speculation and speculation.
In addition, according to the "Price Law of the People's Republic of China" and the "Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China" and other relevant laws and regulations, no unit or individual may use a dominant market position, information asymmetry and other means to carry out price monopoly, price gouging, hoarding and other behaviors. This means that if traders hoard and speculate on Chinese herbal medicines, they still face the risk of legal risks and corresponding penalties. (At the request of the interviewees, some names have been changed) (ENDS)
Source: Chinanews.com