Hidden worries behind the strong growth of foreign trade of traditional Chinese Medicine

Business club, August 10, may and June customs data of Chinese patent medicine exported to the European Union reflected that the negative impact on the export of Chinese patent medicine began to appear after the entry into force of the traditional botanical medicine registration procedure directive In the first half of this year, under the continuous influence of the quantitative easing policies of the United States, Japan and other developed countries, the global inflationary pressure increased further, but the world economy as a whole continued the recovery trend of last year, stimulating the growth pace of China's pharmaceutical foreign trade Driven by this, in the first half of the year, the import and export volume of traditional Chinese medicine increased by 41.43% year-on-year to US $1438 million Among them, the export volume was US $1.111 billion, up 42.95% year on year; the import volume was US $326 million, up 36.5% year on year Foreign trade of traditional Chinese medicine continued to maintain a steady growth momentum In terms of price, the overall increase in the export price of traditional Chinese medicine tends to be flat, and the export price of chrysanthemum, Atractylodes macrocephala and Codonopsis has declined on a month on month basis, which increasingly shows the influence of the state on the price control of traditional Chinese medicine But the current world economic situation is complex, and the recovery process is full of uncertainty and new risks Although the demand for green products in the international market continues to grow, and the export of traditional Chinese medicine products will continue to maintain a rapid growth trend, the combination of natural disasters and many uncertain economic factors may have a certain impact on the export of traditional Chinese medicine in China It is expected that in the second half of this year, the export of traditional Chinese medicine will continue to increase, but the growth rate may slow down Export price growth slowed down in the first half of this year, and the export volume of Chinese herbal pieces was 374 million US dollars, an increase of 31.33% year on year, accounting for 33.7% of the total export volume of Chinese herbal products The export volume of Chinese patent medicine was 113 million US dollars, up 23.36% year on year; the import volume was 101 million US dollars, down 8.98% year on year The export value of health products was US $98.3488 million, up 119.4% year on year; the import value was US $69.5364 million, up 122.15% year on year Although in the first half of this year, the export price of traditional Chinese medicine increased by 38% year on year, but only increased by 0.74% month on month It can be seen that although the export price of traditional Chinese medicine still keeps increasing, the increase of export price has slowed down The main export markets of Chinese herbal medicines and pieces are in Asia, and they are concentrated in Hong Kong, Japan, Vietnam, South Korea, Taiwan, etc In the first half of the year, China's exports of traditional Chinese medicine products to Hong Kong, Germany, Italy and other regions increased rapidly, while those to Spain, the United Kingdom and India dropped significantly In terms of trade channels, traditional Chinese medicine export is still dominated by the traditional market, but the natural drug market in Europe and the United States is increasingly prosperous Japan, Hong Kong, China and the United States are still the main export markets of traditional Chinese medicine, with export growth of more than 30% in the first half of the year The export volume of these three markets accounted for 43.51% of the total export volume of traditional Chinese medicine The rapid growth of European and American markets has become a highlight of the export of traditional Chinese medicine In recent years, the natural drug market in Europe and the United States has become more and more prosperous, and the consumption has been increasing year by year In the first half of the year, the export of traditional Chinese medicine to Europe and the United States increased significantly (mainly the export of health care products and extracts increased rapidly), among which the export to Europe increased by 77.08% and the export to North America increased by 55.33% In the same period, the export growth of traditional Chinese medicine to Asian market was only 28%, lower than the average growth of traditional Chinese medicine export In the first half of this year, there were 2212 export enterprises of traditional Chinese medicine products, an increase of 147 over the same period of 2010 Private enterprises are still the main force of export, accounting for 50.43% of the total export value; foreign-funded enterprises account for 29.11% of the total export value; state-owned enterprises only account for 20.39% of the total export value It is noteworthy that the growth rate of export of traditional Chinese medicine by private enterprises is 69% year on year, far higher than that of state-owned and foreign-funded enterprises Hong Kong, Japan and the United States are still the main export markets of Chinese patent medicines, accounting for about 56% of the total export of Chinese patent medicines Hong Kong is the region with the most concentrated export of Chinese patent medicines, with an export amount of US $47.8477 million, up 19.78% year on year On the one hand, Hong Kong has a strong consumption demand for Chinese patent medicines; on the other hand, some Hong Kong merchants have branches in the United States, Europe and other countries, and Hong Kong has become a transit station for the export of Chinese patent medicines to the world In the first half of this year, the export volume of plant extracts was US $525 million, up 47.68% on a year-on-year basis, accounting for 47.27% of the total export volume of traditional Chinese medicine It continued to maintain the growth trend and occupied the first place of traditional Chinese medicine export commodities for many years in a row However, the import volume of extract was 86.1484 million US dollars, an increase of 27.53% year on year, accounting for 26.39% of the total import volume of traditional Chinese medicine China's extract export market is mainly the United States and Japan In the first half of the year, the export volume to the United States increased by 67% Due to the earthquake in Japan, China's export to Japan increased by 22.24% in the first half of the year, which is lower than the average growth rate The demand for natural pigments in the European market is growing rapidly at an average annual rate of 35% In the first half of this year, China's export of extracts to Europe increased by 85.55% year on year, of which the export to Germany increased by 133.5% Demand in emerging markets such as Mexico is also growing steadily China's extractive export enterprises are mainly concentrated in Shandong, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Jiangsu and Guangdong In the first half of the year, there were 1060 extractive export enterprises, including 781 private enterprises, whose export volume accounted for 54.24% of China's total extractive export, and achieved a year-on-year high growth In recent years, there is a strong demand for plant extracts in the international market Plant extracts have become a new favorite in the field of health products, food, beverage and natural health products Such products have a wide range of uses and large amounts, providing a broad space for China's export At present, China's planting and lifting industry is entering an important transition period after years of development Whether it can achieve a smooth transition from small and medium-sized enterprises to large enterprises is the key factor to determine whether the industry can develop healthily in the future It is worth mentioning that the import and export of health care products increased significantly, and the demand in Europe and Latin America increased significantly According to the statistics of the General Administration of customs, in the first half of the year, China's health products export reached US $98.3488 million, an increase of 119.4% year on year, among which the demand of Europe and Latin America grew rapidly The export of health products in China is mainly fish oil, beeswax, lecithin and royal jelly products, and the main export provinces and cities are Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shandong and Zhejiang Among them, the export growth of Shandong and Henan is relatively large, and the export of Hubei and Heilongjiang is obviously declining Market influencing factors appear and analyze the important factors that affect the export of traditional Chinese medicine There is nothing more important than the European Union's "traditional plant medicine registration procedure directive", which has begun to show this negative impact on the export of Chinese patent medicine In the first half of the year, the export volume of Chinese patent medicines to the EU was US $8.6508 million, an increase of 51.16% year on year, but this was mainly due to the fact that some enterprises completed the export exchange before the time limit of EU's "traditional plant medicine registration procedure directive" came into effect from January to April The UK is the main market for importing Chinese patent medicine products from China into the European Union Before the effective of the directive period, the UK sellers hoarded a lot of goods, which increased the export growth of Chinese patent medicine to the EU in the first half of the year However, after the transitional period of the directive came into force on April 30, its negative impact on the export of Chinese patent medicines to the EU has been shown From May to June, the export volume of Chinese patent medicines to the EU was 1.7615 million US dollars, down 23.69% year on year Japan's shrinking health food market has led to a decline in China's exports to it For a long time, the United States and Japan are the main destination countries of China's health products export, accounting for 36.84% of China's health products export However, in recent years, due to Japan's stricter requirements for specific health food, enterprises have invested more in research and production, with little profit, resulting in a slowdown in the export growth of China's health products to Japan Some data show that the development of the whole healthy food market in Japan is not optimistic According to statistics, since 2005, the total market volume of health food in Japan has gradually decreased It is expected that the market will slow down gradually before 2012, and the whole market recovery will wait until 2013 In the first half of this year, due to the impact of Japan's earthquake and sluggish consumption of health care products market, China's export volume of health care products to Japan was 7.819 million US dollars, down 13.61% year on year.