Export of traditional Chinese medicine into raw material products

The first quarter of 2014 international pharmaceutical trade situation conference was recently held in Beijing According to the conference news, the export volume of Chinese traditional medicine products in 2013 reached US $3.138 billion, an increase of 25.54% year-on-year, a record high The industry believes that China does not have an advantage in the export of traditional Chinese medicine, and the export of traditional Chinese medicine has become a raw material product Low profit and low value-added crude drugs are still the focus The increase of demand for raw materials may lead to the relatively low-end of Chinese herbal medicines exported by China, and businesses and enterprises are not competitive in the market of high profit and high-end products According to Xu Ming, vice president of China Chamber of Commerce for the import and export of medical and health care products, in 2013, the export volume of Chinese traditional medicine products reached 3.138 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 25.54%, a new record Among them, the export of plant extracts reached US $1.412 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.3%; the export of Chinese herbal medicines and pieces reached US $1.211 billion, a year-on-year increase of 41.24%; the export of Chinese patent medicines reached US $267 million, a year-on-year increase of 0.84%; the export of health products reached US $248 million, a year-on-year increase of 16.17% In terms of import volume, in 2013, the year-on-year growth of plant extracts, Chinese herbal medicines and decoction pieces, Chinese patent medicine and health care products was US $388 million, 21.78%; US $220 million, 53.12%; US $294 million, 9.54%; US $177 million, 24.85% Zhang Bin, an analyst with Zhuo Chuang information, believes that from the published data, China's export of Chinese herbal medicines as a whole has made great progress Although the trade deficit continues, it is significantly lower than the previous two years It is worth noting that the export of plant extracts, crude drugs and decoction pieces accounts for a relatively large proportion, with a relatively rapid growth rate There are few competitive products with high added value and high technology independently developed The rapid growth of extracts and crude drugs is beneficial to the development of traditional Chinese medicine industry in the short term, which can alleviate the severity of trade deficit to a certain extent However, in the long term, it may lead to the low export profit of traditional Chinese medicine, the failure of the development of high added value and high profit products, the gradual weakening of competitive advantage and the more serious trade deficit According to his analysis, the trade deficit in 2014 will be further reduced, but it will continue, because from the current export product structure and the proportion of growth rate, the raw materials with low profits and low added value are still the focus, which is difficult to change in a short time Zhao Zhen, a senior analyst in the pharmaceutical industry, shared the same view He told Beijing Business Daily that in recent years, more and more enterprises were interested in extracts when they participated in exhibitions of traditional Chinese medicine or extracts However, the export performance of traditional Chinese medicine is still at the bottom of the value chain, with low added value, which is not conducive to improving the competitiveness of enterprises In the past, the annual growth rate of plant extraction and the export of Chinese herbal pieces was more than 20% In the next few years, it will still grow rapidly, which may be slightly lower, but also maintain the speed of 15% - 20% "To adjust the export structure of traditional Chinese medicine products and vigorously support traditional Chinese medicine enterprises to develop superior products with high added value is still the top priority." Zhang Bin said At present, China's traditional Chinese medicine faces great opportunities and challenges On the one hand, Japan, South Korea, Europe and the United States and other countries have increased their attention to the field of traditional Chinese medicine, imported a large number of original Chinese medicine, developed high-quality, sophisticated products, and expanded their competitive advantages On the other hand, we are trying our best to suppress the development of Chinese herbal medicines The export of Chinese patent medicine and higher-end products does not occupy an advantage in China There are many limitations in terms of single variety detection, sulfur content, heavy metals, pharmaceutical ingredients, etc On the one hand, the growth rate of export of traditional Chinese medicine can alleviate the pressure of supply of traditional Chinese medicine and stimulate the demand to promote the rapid development of traditional Chinese medicine industry; on the other hand, a large number of crude drugs are exported, high-end products cannot be developed, and gradually fall into the dilemma of high-end products buying and low-end products selling, completely losing the competitive advantage, so we need to be vigilant.