Health & Beauty

Recently, there has been a significant increase in the prices of some medicinal materials. Among them, the prices of natural bezoar, the main components of Angong Niuhuang Wan and Pianzihuang, have increased by over 900000 yuan/kg, and medicinal herbs such as Shayuanzi, Brucea javanica, Peony bark, and Aster have also almost doubled in price.

In the opinion of the insiders, due to the problems of insufficient scale, depletion of wild resource depletion, and lack of quality control at the supply side, the prices of some Chinese medicinal materials are still in the rising channel. Once the market has reached a consensus on this, leading to hoarding and speculation, the price fluctuation will be further amplified. Therefore, to solve this problem, it is necessary to gather the joint efforts of multiple parties in order to effectively solve it.

Overall easing of price fluctuations

According to Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation, as of February 2023, the Comprehensive 200 Index of Traditional Chinese Medicine has stabilized at 3000 points, an increase of nearly 5% compared to the end of December 2022. From the past week (March 5th to March 11th), out of the 2650 varieties monitored by the Tiandi Yuntu Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry Big Data Center (including the same variety with different product specifications and different origins, the same below), 90 varieties have increased, 54 varieties have decreased, and the prices of other varieties have stabilized.

The significant increase in medicinal material prices is influenced by multiple factors, including weather disasters and increased market demand. At the end of 2022, there was a significant increase in the prices of traditional Chinese medicine, which led to an oversupply of medicinal materials for alleviating cold symptoms and led to an increase in prices. Among the categories with recent price increases, Chinese medicinal herbs such as rhizomes and fruits, seeds and kernels account for a relatively large proportion, accounting for 52% and 31% respectively.

According to the observation report of Huacheng Import and Export Data, overall, the price fluctuations of traditional Chinese medicine raw materials in 2023 have significantly decreased compared to 2022. On the one hand, due to the significant fluctuations in the prices of traditional Chinese medicine raw materials before, procurement merchants have a cautious attitude, placing more emphasis on actual digestion ability when purchasing goods, and the market mentality has begun to trend towards rationality.

Previously, the production capacity of epidemic prevention raw materials increased significantly, and businesses and production enterprises generally believed that their risk coefficient was relatively high. The demand for raw materials was mainly based on actual demand, and the phenomenon of blind hoarding has been relatively reduced, "an industry insider told reporters.

On the other hand, the overcapacity of some traditional Chinese medicine raw materials is emerging. A traditional Chinese medicine distributor who has been in the industry for many years revealed to reporters that although some powerful traditional Chinese medicine production enterprises have started to obtain the main upstream Chinese medicine resources through self cultivation or cooperation with local farmers in recent years, their proportion in the overall market is still low, and the situation of "crowding up and then crowding up" still occurs repeatedly.

When the price of a certain type of Chinese herbal medicine is relatively high in the market, some herbal medicine growers choose to plant this type of Chinese herbal medicine. However, the maturity of Chinese herbal medicine often takes some time. If the supply suddenly increases, but the demand does not change much, the situation of "cheap medicine harms farmers" is inevitable.

Insufficient supply of medicinal animal resources

Among various types of traditional Chinese medicine, the prices of plant-based traditional Chinese medicine fluctuate greatly, while the prices of animal based traditional Chinese medicine continue to rise.

According to public information, China has over 120000 species of traditional Chinese medicine resources, including nearly 2215 species of medicinal animals, accounting for approximately 18% of all traditional Chinese medicine resources. Animal medicine has a long history of application in China, characterized by wide resources, strong activity, good efficacy, and high benefits. It has great potential and important position in the market of Chinese herbal raw materials consumption, and its clinical role and efficacy cannot be replaced.

With the acceleration of China's economic development and urbanization process, the depletion of wild medicinal animal resources is accelerating. From the 2000 to 2020 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, the proportion of animal based traditional Chinese medicine has decreased from 9.47% to 5.43%. However, there are 1491 kinds of traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations preparations recorded in the 2020 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, including 342 kinds of animal raw material preparations, accounting for 22.94%.

Among the 2650 varieties monitored by the Tiandi Yuntu Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry Big Data Center (including the same variety, different product specifications, and different origins), there are 105 types of animal based traditional Chinese medicine. Among them, 71 species of raw materials mainly come from wild resources, including gecko, cuttlebone, stone cassia, centipede, and mulberry cuttlebone, accounting for 67.62%; 25 kinds of silkworm, such as bombyx batryticatus, cocoon, ass hide glue, and corn worm, mainly come from domestic resources, accounting for 23.81%; There are 9 species, including fish swim bladder, pearls, musk, cowhide, and turtle shell, which are both wild and domestic resources, accounting for 8.57%.

In the section of "Strengthening the Construction of High standard Farmland", the No. 1 central document released earlier expressed the expression of "severely cracking down on soil destroying behaviors such as illegal digging of black soil and electric earthworm catching", which caused widespread concern and discussion on earthworms, and Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Earthworm, also known as "earthworm", is a traditional Chinese medicinal herb. According to the Chinese Pharmacopoeia, it has the functions of clearing heat, calming convulsions, unblocking collaterals, relieving asthma, and diuresis. Modern research has also shown that earthworms can also greatly help alleviate symptoms such as seizures and hypertension, and are one of the important raw materials for producing drugs for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. In terms of flow direction, most earthworms enter pharmaceutical companies, as reported by Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation.

With the strengthening of national efforts to protect wildlife and the need for ecological civilization construction, the protection and sustainable utilization of wild resources of animal medicinal materials have become increasingly important and urgent issues that need to be addressed in the industry.

Breaking the game still requires multiple approaches

The insufficient supply of pure natural raw materials will naturally lead to extremely scarce market demand, "the head of the marketing department of a listed Chinese medicine enterprise told reporters. For example, as the core raw materials of Angong Niuhuang products, the annual market supply of natural Niuhuang and natural musk can only meet 10% to 15% of the market demand.

The same applies to plant based traditional Chinese medicine. Oranges born in Huainan are called oranges, while those born in Huaibei are called trifoliate orange. The medicinal properties of traditional Chinese medicine from different regions are determined by their medicinal properties. At present, although traditional Chinese medicine raw material growers also have large-scale cultivation, overall they are still small-scale farmers in the economic model, and there is a situation of mixing authentic medicinal materials from different production areas. In addition, some Chinese medicinal materials still need to be harvested in the wild, and the quality control and traceability of Chinese medicinal materials still have a long way to go.

There are still bottlenecks in the development of domestic breeding technology, leading to the majority of varieties still needing to be supplied by wild resources, invisibly accelerating the rate of depletion of wild resources. Even if the technological bottleneck is broken, the cost of domestic breeding for many varieties still remains high, and the scale of domestic breeding is still in the small-scale pilot stage without regulations to model farming. Whether it is animal or plant medicinal materials, this is the same principle, "said the interviewed medicinal material dealer to the reporter, Huacheng Import and Export Data Observation Report.

Leading enterprises adhering to the use of natural raw materials will undoubtedly be under pressure from the significant increase in raw material costs. From another perspective, the research and development of artificial bezoar and artificial musk have been carried out for decades, and the technology is becoming increasingly mature. The above-mentioned interviewees believe that in the situation where natural sources cannot be guaranteed, production enterprises should take precautions and carry out artificial substitution work from natural sources to adapt to the expanding market demand. The emergence of artificially cultivated products such as artificial bezoar and artificial musk has largely filled the market gap caused by insufficient supply of natural raw materials. Currently, the market share of this artificially cultivated product is close to 90%.