Health & Beauty

Currently, 29 countries and regions around the world have formulated laws and regulations on traditional medicine, and China has signed cooperation agreements on traditional Chinese medicine with 43 foreign governments, regions, and international organizations.

"Traditional Chinese medicine has spread to 196 countries and regions, and the import and export of Chinese traditional Chinese medicine products in international trade has increased significantly." On March 22, the "Blue Book for the Development of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry (2022)" released at the China High Quality Development Conference of Traditional Chinese Medicine held in Shenzhen showed that the opening up and development of traditional Chinese medicine has achieved positive results.

The improvement of global public health awareness is constantly consolidating the foundation for the international trade market development of traditional Chinese medicine products. Currently, 29 countries and regions around the world have formulated laws and regulations on traditional medicine, and China has signed cooperation agreements on traditional Chinese medicine with 43 foreign governments, regions, and international organizations.

The import and export of Chinese herbal products such as plant extracts, Chinese medicinal materials and decoction pieces, traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations, health care products, etc. have maintained a good growth momentum. According to data from the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products, in 2022, China's foreign trade of traditional Chinese medicine continued the high growth momentum of 2021, with a total import and export volume of 8.57 billion US dollars, an increase of 10.7% year-on-year. Among them, the export volume was 5.69 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 13.8%; The import volume was 2.88 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 5.1%.

As the concept of healthy diet and prevention of disease has become more popular, China's export of plant extracts has increased significantly, with the export volume achieving a year-on-year increase of 16.5% in 2022. In recent years, the accelerated pace of overseas registration of Chinese medicine has led to the increasing export of traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations. In 2022, China's traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations exports will reach 380 million US dollars, up 23.8% year on year; The export volume was 13100 tons, a year-on-year increase of 12.6%.

Although China's foreign trade of traditional Chinese medicine products achieved steady growth last year and achieved good results in overseas registration of traditional Chinese medicine, the development of foreign trade of traditional Chinese medicine still faces challenges such as the complex international political and economic situation and the adjustment of global industrial chains. The relevant person in charge of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Department of the Medical Insurance Chamber of Commerce pointed out that the expansion of the foreign trade market of traditional Chinese medicine can focus on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP), the "the Belt and Road" and other key regions.

In recent years, China and relevant SCO countries have conducted extensive and close exchanges and cooperation in the field of traditional medicine. Currently, China has established overseas Chinese medicine centers in several SCO related countries. In 2022, the import and export volume of traditional Chinese medicine between China and relevant SCO countries reached 820 million US dollars, accounting for about 10% of China's total foreign trade of traditional Chinese medicine. The SCO Traditional Medicine Industry Alliance was established in September 2022 to further promote exchanges, interactions, and cooperation in traditional medicine among member countries and the development of the traditional medicine industry by strengthening multi-level exchanges, interactions, and cooperation among industry, education, research, and medicine.

Other member countries of RCEP are the trading partners of Chinese traditional medicine and traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations. In 2022, the import and export volume of traditional Chinese medicine products between China and other RCEP member countries was 3.36 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 17.0%. Among them, the export volume increased by 17.3% and the import volume increased by 16.6%. The implementation of RCEP will significantly enhance the level of regional economic integration in East Asia, while effectively promoting trade exchanges and exchanges and cooperation in traditional Chinese medicine. For example, at present, China only allows 11 types of traditional Chinese medicine materials to be imported from Malaysia, and has not yet effectively developed and utilized hundreds of medicinal plant resources in Malaysia. There is still much room for bilateral trade cooperation in traditional Chinese medicine under the RCEP framework.

Traditional Chinese medicine is an important component of cultural exchanges along the Silk Road. In 2022, the import and export volume of international trade of traditional Chinese medicine between China and the "the Belt and Road" countries will be 3.55 billion US dollars, accounting for 41.4% of the total foreign trade volume of traditional Chinese medicine. Among them, the export volume was 1.94 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 16.7%; The import volume was 1.61 billion US dollars, up 18.8% year-on-year. The high-quality joint construction of the "the Belt and Road" will provide greater support for the "going out" and "bringing in" of traditional Chinese medicine.

In order to further enhance the international influence of traditional Chinese medicine, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Implementation Plan for the Major Project for the Revitalization and Development of Traditional Chinese Medicine" on February 28th, proposing to implement the open development project of traditional Chinese medicine, focusing on supporting the open development of traditional Chinese medicine production, education, research, and application through the construction of an open development platform, the international influence enhancement plan, the international trade promotion plan, and the international anti epidemic cooperation plan, and promoting the dissemination and application of traditional Chinese medicine, Help build a community of human health.

The Plan clearly establishes more cooperation platforms, continuously improves the international trade system and mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine, and continuously improves the total international trade volume of traditional Chinese medicine products and services as well as the trade facilitation level of the traditional Chinese medicine industry.

Many places have already begun to take positive action. According to the deployment of the Sichuan Provincial TCM Work Promotion Conference held on March 20th, this year, it is necessary to continue to create international event IPs such as "Foreign Leaders Entering Sichuan TCM", accelerate the layout of "Tianfu Cloud Medicine · Overseas Benefiting Overseas Chinese Telemedicine Station", strengthen the construction of TCM service export bases, deepen cooperation with Hong Kong, Macao, Hainan, and other places, and assist in the inheritance and foreign exchange of Sichuan TCM culture.