The upstream is rising, and the price of Chinese medicinal materials will still run at a high level in 2022

In January this year, Jiuzhitang issued a price adjustment notice to customers, raising the prices of more than 20 kinds of Chinese patent medicines under it, and the market's expectations for the improvement of the traditional Chinese medicine sector continued to heat up
.
A person from Jiuzhitang Company said that the current high prices of Chinese herbal medicines are caused by supply constraints, demand-driven, cyclical and other reasons, but on the whole, the trend of rising prices of herbal medicines pushing up the prices of Chinese patent medicine products will continue.
some time
.
Previously, some products of Tongrentang, China Resources Sanjiu, Zhongxin Pharmaceutical, Taiji Industry and other companies have raised prices.
Jiuzhitang is the fifth Chinese medicine company to raise prices for Chinese patent medicine products
.
What causes these traditional Chinese medicine manufacturers to increase product prices? Is it really as the company said, it is all the fault of the price increase of Chinese herbal medicines? The price-raising drugs are closely related to the demand for drugs.
From the perspective of drug classification, among the proprietary Chinese medicines that the above-mentioned 5 companies increased their prices, tonic drugs accounted for the highest proportion, 13, accounting for 29.
55%; 6 gynecological drugs, accounting for 13.
64%; There are 5 soothing medicines, accounting for 11.
36%; 6 anti-inflammatory drugs, accounting for 13.
64%; 4 heat-clearing drugs, accounting for 9.
09%; 3 orifice-relieving drugs, accounting for 6.
82%; 1 medicine, accounting for 9.
09% in total; 1 medicine for liver and gallbladder disease, 1 medicine for spleen and stomach disease, and 1 medicine for dispelling rheumatism and treating arthralgia, accounting for 6.
82% in total
.
There are many products with price increases for tonic, gynecological drugs, sedatives and antidepressants, indicating that their market demand is large
.
On the one hand, people are paying more and more attention to recuperation, especially the increasing demand for products that can improve physical function; The demand for medicines related to gynecological diseases is increasing
.
In addition, with the increasing pressure of today's life, various anxiety problems have led to a serious decline in the quality of sleep in some people, and the market demand for sedative drugs is increasing
.
Changes in the price of Chinese herbal medicines directly affect the stability of the supply.
From the perspective of the Chinese Herbal Medicine 200 Index, in the past five years, the cyclical law and the influence of human factors have kept the Chinese Herbal Medicine 200 Index running at a high level.

.
On the one hand, it creates an opportunity for capital to intervene in speculation; on the other hand, the price of Chinese herbal medicines has repeatedly been out of control, which has seriously affected the continuous and stable supply of Chinese herbal medicine raw materials
.
Especially since 2020, the continuous over-issue of the US dollar has caused global inflation to intensify.
As a bulk agricultural and sideline product, especially the traditional Chinese medicinal materials with obvious rigid demand, it will bear the brunt of the impact
.
At the same time, with the accelerated connection between production and sales, the operators of the traditional medicinal material market lack living space, and usually choose to stock up and wait for the increase to make a profit and counteract the purchasers
.
Judging from the ups and downs of the raw material market of Chinese herbal medicines, the price increase of Chinese patent medicine products involves a total of 152 varieties of raw materials, of which 103 varieties rose, accounting for 67.
76%; 27 varieties remained unchanged, accounting for 17.
76%; 22 varieties fell, accounted for 14.
47%
.
Among the rising varieties, there are 13 varieties with an increase of ≥100%, accounting for 12.
62%, such as Eclipta chinensis, Rehmannia glutinosa, Rehmannia glutinosa, Cockscomb, Alisma, Plantain, Raspberry, Chuanxiong, Fangfeng, Nepeta, Yam, Peppermint, Psoralea; 40 rose 30% to 100%, accounting for 38.
83%, such as turmeric, hyssopus, citrus aurantium, peony, calamus, dogwood, epimedium, continuum, angelica, Tribulus terrestris, Atractylodes Rhizoma, Corydalis, Angelica sinensis, Chushizi, Citrus aurantium, Suanzaoren, etc.
; there are 50 with an increase of less than 30%, accounting for 48.
54%, such as red dates, Platycodon grandiflorum, Wangbuliuxing, Codonopsis, ebony, Morinda officinalis , Acacia bark, Sophora japonica, mulberry octopus, cumin, ginseng, Polygonum multiflorum, Salvia, Cyperus officinalis, tortoise shell, malt, Poria, cinnabar, chrysanthemum, Panax notoginseng, saffron, safflower,
etc.
Among the declining varieties, there are 3 varieties with a decrease of ≥30%, accounting for 13.
64%, namely Achyranthes chinensis, Duhuo, and Patchouli; 19 varieties with a decrease of less than 30%, accounting for 86.
36%, such as Scrophulariaceae, Qingpi, Qin, Scutellaria, Qianhu, Polygala, Pinellia, Honeysuckle, Amomum, Houttuynia,
etc.
Production reduction, increase in anti-epidemic drugs and abnormal weather are the main reasons for the general increase in the price of Chinese herbal medicines in the past two years
.
Varieties with rising prices due to production reduction include Eclipta, Alisma, Psyllium, raspberry, Chuanxiong, Fangfeng, Nepeta, Mint, Turmeric, etc.
, which are generally caused by the frustration of production enthusiasm due to low prices for many years.
Varieties whose production has been reduced due to factors, once the market recovers, the production of these varieties is also very easy to recover; the varieties that have seen a rise in the market due to anti-epidemic drugs include Forsythia, Honeysuckle, Houttuynia cordata, Andrographis paniculata, Daqingye, Chrysanthemum, Platycodon, etc.
, which generally have production The characteristics of easy recovery and changes due to changes in the epidemic situation; varieties with rising prices due to weather include rehmannia, yam, mugwort, jujube seed, dogwood, etc.
, mainly medicinal materials that are affected by floods in the production area from July to October 2021
.
The general increase in Chinese herbal medicines has led to a general increase in the production cost of Chinese patent medicines.
The production cost of Chinese patent medicines has risen, mainly due to the substantial increase in the cost of Chinese herbal medicine raw materials, followed by the increase in the cost of excipients, packaging and labor costs.
Prices remain high
.
Judging from the rise and fall of the cost of Chinese patent medicines, affected by the general increase in the price of raw materials, the proportion of Chinese patent medicines with increased production costs is relatively high
.
There are 40 types of Chinese patent medicines with an increase in cost this time, accounting for 91.
91%; of which 2 have an increase of ≥100%, accounting for 5%, namely Liuwei Dihuang Pill and Zhibai Dihuang Pill; the increase is between 30% and 100%.
There are 18, accounting for 45%, such as Guifu Dihuang Pills, Motherwort Cream, Qiju Dihuang Pills, Bazhen Yimu Pills, Yimu Pills, Bazhen Pills, Mingmu Dihuang Pills, etc.
; there are 20 with an increase of <30% , accounting for 50%, such as Huoxiang Zhengqi Oral Liquid, Noon Tea Granules, Wuji Baifeng Pills, Shengui Lu Antler Pills, Angong Niuhuang Pills, Funing Pills, Huoxiang Zhengqi Pills, Azhen Nourishing Oral Liquid, Lingqiao Jiedu Pills, Yinqiao Jiedu Pills,
etc.
There are 4 types of Chinese patent medicines with a decrease in cost, of which 2 have a decrease of ≥10%, namely Jinmei Qingshu Granules and Honeysuckle Syrup; 2 have a decrease of <10%, namely Lidan Tablets and Tongxuan Lifei Pills
.
The price of Chinese herbal medicines is still the key to determining the production cost of Chinese patent medicines.
From the perspective of the supply of raw materials of Chinese herbal medicines, the current increase in prices of some Chinese patent medicines by manufacturers is mainly to cope with the complex and changeable changes in the raw material market, especially some skyrocketing prices in a short period of time.
varieties of Chinese herbal medicines
.
On the one hand, the price increase can alleviate the shortage of supply due to excessive cost control and the increase in raw material prices; on the other hand, it can also alleviate the situation of excessive losses caused by the increase in product costs
.
From the perspective of the price of Chinese herbal medicines, the development of Chinese patent medicine enterprises is inseparable from the stable supply of the production side of Chinese herbal medicines.
Chinese patent medicine enterprises actively seek win-win cooperation with the production side of Chinese herbal medicines, so as to maximize the effective cost control and the good development of enterprises
.
Only by forming inseparable cooperation between downstream Chinese patent medicine enterprises and upstream Chinese herbal medicine producers can they truly and effectively avoid market risks
.
Therefore, in 2022, it is expected that the price of Chinese herbal medicines will remain at a high level and will become a key factor for the upward production cost of Chinese patent medicines
.
When to fall back depends on the emergence of a downward inflection point in the overall market for Chinese herbal medicines and whether the goal of cross-regional centralized procurement of proprietary Chinese medicines can be successfully achieved
.
(Contributed by Tiandi Yuntu Pharmaceutical Industry Big Data Center)