China's trade in Chinese medicine products is expected to maintain a steady growth trend

According to statistics from China Customs, the import and export volume of Chinese medicines in the first quarter was 690 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 37.6% year-on-year. Among them, the export value of 550 million US dollars, an increase of 48.7%; import value of 140 million US dollars, an increase of 6.5%. From the analysis of relevant data, although the world economy has recently experienced the impact of the turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa, the Japan earthquake and other negative factors, its basic trend of moderate recovery has not changed, if the international economy does not appear large fluctuations in the future China's trade in Chinese medicine products can still maintain a steady growth trend.

Chinese medicine exports have risen

From the perspective of customs data, the current import and export of Chinese medicines in various countries has generally increased, and extracts are still the main exporters. In the first quarter, the export volume of plant extracts was 270 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 53.4% ​​year-on-year, accounting for 48.37% of China's total exports of Chinese medicines. It remained the main force for the export of Chinese medicines; the import amount of extracts was 37.76 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 11.5% year-on-year. It accounted for 27.6% of the total imports of Chinese medicines. The export volume of Chinese herbal medicines decoction pieces was 180 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 35% year-on-year, accounting for 33% of the total export volume of Chinese herbal medicines. The export volume of Chinese patent medicines was 54.63 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 27.9% year-on-year; the import value was 47.34 million U.S. dollars, a year-on-year drop of 33.3%, and the Chinese patent medicine trade still showed a deficit. The export value of health products was 48.851 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 143.91% year-on-year; the import value was 28.743 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 110.69% year-on-year.

In terms of export markets, our country's traditional Chinese medicines are still dominated by traditional markets, and the overall trend of rapid growth is maintained. At present, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States are still the major export markets for traditional Chinese medicines, with the increase in exports exceeding 30% in the first quarter. The export volume of these three markets accounted for about 45% of the total amount of Chinese medicine exports.

At present, the structure of China's export enterprises of Chinese medicines presents a diversified trend, and private companies still dominate. In the first quarter, there were 1,624 Chinese exporters of traditional Chinese medicine products. Private enterprises became the main force in exports, accounting for 50.58% of export value. Exports of “triple-funded” enterprises accounted for 28.95% of the total; state-owned enterprises accounted for only 20.4% of exports. It is worth noting that private enterprises account for more than 90% of private enterprises. On the import side, 637 companies engaged in the import of Chinese medicine products in the first quarter accounted for 40.7% of the imports from the “funded enterprises”; the imports from private enterprises accounted for 41.91%; the imports from the state-owned enterprises accounted for only 17.39%.

Four types of merchandise exports have their advantages

From the situation in the first quarter, it can be seen that the current status of exports of the four categories of traditional Chinese medicines are different. For example, the price of Chinese herbal medicines decoction pieces has dropped slightly compared to the previous month; the export of extracts continues to increase; the exports of Chinese patent medicines to the EU have increased sharply; the import and export of health products has increased significantly. , but the Japanese market declined.

Last year, the prices of Chinese herbal medicines rose sharply, which led to the growth of exports of Chinese herbal medicines. Therefore, in the first quarter of this year, the export volume and average price of China's TCM decoction pieces have increased by a certain amount year-on-year, but the export prices have decreased slightly. The export of plant extracts continued to grow, and for the first time in many years it occupied the top position in the export of Chinese herbal medicines. This shows that the demand for plant extracts remains strong internationally.

In the first quarter, China's exports to the EU of Chinese patent medicines amounted to US$5.75 million, an increase of 104% year-on-year. This was mainly due to the fact that some companies had completed the export transactions before the “Directive of Traditional Plant Drug Registration Procedures” took effect. The United Kingdom is the main market for imports of Chinese proprietary Chinese medicine products in the European Union. Before the deadline for the implementation of the directives, a large number of British sellers sold stocks, resulting in a 215% increase in imports of proprietary Chinese medicines from the country in the first quarter. Nowadays, some Chinese medicine companies in China have not lost confidence in the EU market and are engaged in relevant registration work. The China Medicare Association is also urging the “Development of Foreign Trade Development Fund” to support the project in order to reduce the adverse impact of EU directives.

In the first quarter, the import and export of health products in China increased significantly. The main export regions were the United States. The countries with larger increases in exports were the United States, Chile, and Canada; the countries and regions with large declines in exports were Japan and the Netherlands. The shrinking of Japan’s exports was caused by the earthquake in Japan. On the other hand, due to Japan’s strict requirements on specific health food products, the company’s investment in R&D production was large, but the revenue was not satisfactory. According to statistics, the development of Japan's entire health food is not optimistic, and it is expected that before 2012, the market will be a gradual slowing down process, and the entire market will recover until 2013.

In summary, the author believes that with the continuous increase in the demand for green products in the international market, Chinese herbal products will continue to maintain growth in terms of exports, and the dominant products are mainly plant extracts, Chinese herbal medicines, and health products.