Health & Beauty

In recent years, traditional Chinese medicine products have not only shone brilliantly in the domestic market, but also been favored in overseas markets. The import and export of plant extracts, Chinese medicinal materials and decoction pieces, traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations, and health products all maintained a good growth momentum. In 2022, the pattern of the international supply chain was accelerated to restructure, the trend of globalization development to regionalization development was obvious, and the development of international exchange and cooperation of traditional Chinese medicine met new challenges. According to customs data, the import and export of traditional Chinese medicine continued the trend of 2021, and continued to maintain double-digit growth, with a total foreign trade volume of 8.57 billion US dollars, an increase of 10.7% year on year.

According to customs data, in 2022, China's export of traditional Chinese medicine reached 5.69 billion US dollars, up 13.8% year on year.

1. Growth of plant extracts

Plant extracts have always been a major category of traditional Chinese medicine exports, basically maintaining a high export growth rate. The variety involved is not only the simple concept of traditional Chinese medicine extract 20 years ago, but also the current plant extract has a broader extension, which has been applied in many fields such as medicine, dietary supplements, food and so on. From the perspective of historical data, the export value of plant extracts has increased steadily. According to customs data, the export value in the three years from 2019 to 2021 is 2.36 billion US dollars, 2.44 billion US dollars and 3.03 billion US dollars respectively. In 2022, China's export of plant extracts will reach 107000 tons, up 2.0% year on year, with a total export of 3.53 billion US dollars, up 16.5% year on year.

From the perspective of export market, the European and South American markets have developed steadily, with growth rates of 9.3% and 6.1% respectively; Oceania and Asia markets continue to grow rapidly in 2021, with growth rates of 23.7% and 38.4% respectively; The North American market showed the first decline, with negative growth of 8.6%, while the African market experienced negative growth for two consecutive years. In 2022, the export of large varieties of plant extracts will not change much, and the total export value will account for more than 50% of the total export value. The top ten export products will not change much from the past. With the normalization of the epidemic, the concept of healthy diet and prevention of disease has become more popular. The sales growth of terminal dietary supplements has driven the export of plant extracts, and new products such as natural sugar substitutes, natural dietary fiber, and alternative protein have attracted more market attention.

2. Medicinal materials and prepared slices have made steady progress

According to customs data, in 2022, China exported 251000 tons of traditional Chinese medicine to 114 countries and regions, up 7.8% year on year; Exports totaled US $1.40 billion, up 3.6% year on year; The average export price was $5.58/kg, down 4% year on year. The decline in the average export price was closely related to the overcapacity of some domestic medicinal materials and the fall in international freight rates. In general, in 2022, the export volume of Chinese medicinal materials will increase and decrease, and the export volume will be basically stable. The proportion of exports of traditional Chinese medicine materials remained at about 20% of the total of traditional Chinese medicine.

Due to the differences in cultures and medical policies of different countries, Chinese medicinal materials are only used as raw materials of traditional medicine in a few countries and regions after export (such as Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, China, etc.). In most countries and regions, Chinese medicinal materials are more used as general food or dietary supplements. Therefore, most of the Chinese medicinal materials exported by China are nourishing varieties for both food and medicine. In 2022, the top ten varieties of Chinese medicinal materials exported by China (based on the export amount) are cinnamon, wolfberry, ginseng, poria cocos, angelica, astragalus, cordyceps sinensis, pinellia ternata, poppy seeds, and pilose antler.

3. traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations is eye-catching

Traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations does not account for a high proportion in the overall export volume of traditional Chinese medicine products, and the proportion of export volume is maintained at about 7% all the year round, which is still in a weak position relative to raw material products. In 2022, the export volume of traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations will be 380 million US dollars, up 23.8% year on year; The export volume was 13100 tons, up 12.6% year on year. In recent years, the pace of overseas registration of Chinese medicine has been accelerated, which has also led to the increase of overseas exports of traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations.

From the perspective of market, traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations in Hong Kong, China, is outstanding. In 2022, it will export 170 million dollars of Chinese patent medicine to Hong Kong, China, with a year-on-year growth of 36.9%. Malaysia, the second largest export market of traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations, also shows strong demand, especially in the past two years: in 2021, traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations exported to Malaysia will reach 22.74 million US dollars, an increase of 196% over 2020; In 2022, traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations exported to Malaysia will reach US $54.22 million, a year-on-year increase of 138%, which reflects that the long-term cooperation between China and Malaysia in the field of traditional Chinese medicine has achieved remarkable results in promoting the "going global" of traditional Chinese medicine. In March 2022, the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Traditional Medicine between China and Malaysia was renewed. China and Malaysia continued to strengthen and promote cooperation in the practice, education, training and research of traditional Chinese medicine.

4. Strong momentum of health products

At present, health care products are relatively special in the customs statistical system, mainly including fish oil and fish liver oil, bee products and bird's nest, vitamins and mineral preparations are not included, and many other health care products are exported in the form of food and are not included in the health care products. The data on health care products trade in this article is incomplete statistics.

In 2022, the export value of health care products reached US $380 million, up 22.5% year on year. Among them, fish oil and fish liver oil products grew strongly, with exports of 270 million US dollars, up 36.7% year on year; The export value of bee products decreased slightly, with the export value of 110 million US dollars, down 3.2% year on year. In addition to the increase of beeswax, the export value of royal jelly, honey and bee pollen decreased year on year.

The import volume increased steadily

In 2021, the import of traditional Chinese medicine commodities rebounded strongly, with an annual import value of 2.74 billion US dollars, up 24.1%; In 2022, the annual import value was 2.88 billion US dollars, up 5.1%.

In 2022, the import of plant extracts was 780 million US dollars, down 12.5% year on year.

Among the imported plant extracts, the essential oil raw materials account for 63% of the plant extracts. Due to the particularity of essential oil products, the import and export are often divided into big and small years, which has a great impact on the overall growth of plant extracts. In 2022, the import value of essential oil products was US $490 million, down 23.8% year on year, which was the main reason for the overall decline in the import of plant extracts in 2022. If the influence of essential oils is removed, the import value of plant extracts (excluding essential oils) will be 290 million US dollars in 2022, down 7.8% year on year; The import volume was 31000 tons, down only 0.1% year on year. It can be seen that in 2022, the domestic market demand for plant extracts (excluding essential oil) will not change much, and the decrease of import price will lead to the callback of import amount.

In 2022, the import of traditional Chinese medicine and decoction pieces will reach US $614 million, up 13.8% year on year. There are about 110 kinds of common imported medicinal materials in China, and the variety and origin of imported medicinal materials are relatively stable. China imports medicinal materials from about 70 countries and regions around the world every year. Most of these countries and regions are located in Asia, and the amount of medicinal materials imported from Asia accounts for more than 90% of the total amount of medicinal materials imported from China. In 2022, the top ten varieties of Chinese medicinal materials imported by China (in terms of import amount) are American ginseng, velvet antler, ginseng, turmeric, saffron, licorice, clove, dragon's blood, frankincense and myrrh. The import value of the top ten varieties accounts for 36% of the total import value of Chinese medicinal materials. In 2022, Indonesia, Myanmar, Canada, New Zealand, South Korea, India, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia and the United States will be the top ten source countries (in terms of import amount) of Chinese medicinal materials imported from China, accounting for 85% of the total quantity of Chinese medicinal materials imported and 87% of the total import amount.

In 2022, traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations imports 430 million dollars, up 18.7% year on year.

The top two import markets (Hong Kong, China and Germany) account for 85% of the world's imports. The good performance of main import markets is the main reason to drive the import of traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations. The import volume of Hong Kong, China was US $220 million, up 9.8% year on year; Germany's imports amounted to US $150 million, up 41.7% year on year.

According to customs data, the import volume of health care products in 2022 was 1.05 billion US dollars, up 20.2% year on year.

Under the guidance of the national import expansion policy, in recent years, the import performance of health care products has been outstanding, and the import growth rate has been maintained at a high level. Among them, bird's nest is still the most popular health care product. In 2022, the import volume of bird's nest will be 650 million US dollars, up 20.0% year on year. However, the average import price of bird's nest will drop by 13.5%, and the volume will be changed by price. According to the analysis of bird's nest import data over the years, the total import volume of bird's nest has exceeded the domestic market demand. Judging from the current situation, the import of bird's nest may have a large downward space in 2023.