"True fire" or "false fire" The prices of many categories of Chinese medicinal materials have soared

Topic: Market inflection point will appear patiently waiting for the driving signal

◎ Reporter Zhang Xue

"June was the off-season, but now there are many varieties of traditional Chinese medicine rising in price. The price of spices has risen the most, and the price of pepper, cardamom, longan meat and other spices is also rising rapidly." Recently, Manager Zhu, head of the marketing department of a listed Chinese medicine enterprise, told the Shanghai Securities Journal.

The reporter learned that after a large price increase last year, some varieties of Chinese medicinal materials have started a new round of price increase since this year. In the view of the insiders, due to the supply side still has problems such as insufficient scale, depletion of wild resources, and lack of quality control, the prices of some Chinese medicinal materials are still in the rising channel. In addition, "hot money" from outside the industry poured in, hoarding and speculating on some varieties, further amplifying the price fluctuation. The industry believes that joint efforts are still needed to solve the problem of tight supply of traditional Chinese medicine.

Star medicinal materials keep rising

Taking pepper as an example, its monthly index has soared from 646.66 to 1374.18 from January to June 2024, according to Kangmei · China Traditional Chinese Medicine Price Index; Although there has been a slight decline recently, as of June 28, the pepper (Japanese) index still reached 1175.18.

The reporter learned that this round of sharp rise in the price of black pepper was mainly caused by factors such as production reduction in Vietnam's production areas, fluctuations in the US dollar exchange rate, and capital entry.

Atractylodes macrocephala and natural bezoar are also "star medicinal materials" with soaring prices, and even frequently appear in "hot search".

According to the data from the Chinese Medicine World Wide Web, the information service media of the whole industry of traditional Chinese medicine, the price of atractylodes macrocephala has risen since January 2023 in Bozhou Pharmaceutical City, Anhui Province. By June 28 this year, the average price of atractylodes macrocephala has risen from 28 yuan/kg to the latest reference price of 160 yuan/kg to 175 yuan/kg. In Hebei Anguo Pharmaceutical City, its price trend is similar to that of Bozhou Pharmaceutical City.

The price of natural bezoar has also risen since 2023. Taking the price of Anguo Pharmaceutical Market as an example, in January 2023, the price of natural bile yellow (a kind of natural bezoar) will be 570000 yuan/kg, while the latest price as of June 28 this year will be 1.4 million yuan/kg.

A licensed doctor from a pharmacy in Chaoyang District, Beijing told the reporter that since last year, the prices of many Chinese herbal medicines had risen, and the prices of Chinese herbal pieces operated by the pharmacy had to be adjusted accordingly. If the price of several drugs in the customer's prescription changes in a short period of time, customers who fill the prescription every 10 days or two weeks will complain about "how the price has risen again".

Li, a pharmaceutical dealer in Bozhou, Anhui Province, gave the reporter an example. Judging from the changes in drug prices within 7 days (June 22-28), the price of acute seeds had increased by more than 75%, while that of cardamom and gastrodia elata had increased by about 45% and 30% respectively. The price change of some medicinal materials is very obvious.

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is located in the upstream of the TCM industry chain, and its price fluctuation has had a certain impact on the whole industry of TCM. With the rising cost, the price increase has been transmitted to patients, pharmacies, TCM hospitals and TCM enterprises. Some Chinese patent medicines have also repeatedly raised their prices.

Recently, Tongrentang According to the official brand website, the price of Angong Niuhuang Pills in Hong Kong is adjusted to HK $1280 (equivalent to about RMB 1189) for one capsule, and HK $7680 (equivalent to about RMB 7133) for six capsules, each with a specification of 3 grams. Previously, each Hong Kong version of Angong Niuhuang Pill sold for HK $1060 (equivalent to about 985 yuan), with a price increase of more than 20%.

Why the price of traditional Chinese medicine rises frequently

"The supply of pure natural raw materials is insufficient, and of course it is difficult to meet the market demand." Manager Zhu introduced to reporters, for example, as the core raw materials of Angong bezoar products, the market supply of natural bezoar and natural musk can only meet the market demand of 10% to 15% every year.

The reporter learned that one of the reasons for the obvious increase of Angong Niuhuang Pill is that its content of bezoar is much higher than other bezoar drugs. In addition, the prices of other raw materials of Angong Niuhuang Pill, such as natural musk, Coptis chinensis and other precious Chinese medicinal materials, remained high, and the prices of pearls, scutellaria baicalensis, cinnabar, etc. also rose to varying degrees.

The same is true for Chinese medicinal plants. "Many of the varieties whose prices have increased this year are niche varieties. The market demand is small and the stock is not large, so if the main production areas suffer disasters, it will be troublesome." Mr. Li said for example, for example, the production areas of domestic pepper and star anise are mainly distributed in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan and other southern regions. This year, many places in the south suffered floods, resulting in short-term supply gaps, Cause price rise; The same is true of the rise in the price of longan meat.

"Many varieties of traditional Chinese medicine still need to be supplied by wild resources. Even if the technical bottleneck is broken, the scale of domestic breeding of many varieties is still in a small pilot stage, which cannot achieve large-scale breeding, and the cost of domestic breeding is also high." Mr. Wang, a drug dealer of a listed traditional Chinese medicine enterprise, said.

"This year, some 'hot money' has poured in, and there are many idle funds in the market, most of which are laymen." Mr. Wang told reporters that the influx of hot money has led to frequent changes in the hands of some medicinal materials and frequent price increases. Some businesses even published the output and market information of "high moisture" medicinal materials on the Internet platform, further pushing up the prices of related varieties.

To solve the shortage of supply and demand, the whole industry chain needs to make efforts

In response to the price rise of Chinese medicinal materials, some Chinese patent medicine enterprises responded by taking relevant measures to deal with the price rise of Chinese medicinal materials.

　　 Foci Pharmaceutical In March 2024, it was announced that, in view of the increase of raw materials and production costs, the ex factory price of the main Chinese patent medicine products would be adjusted from March 11, 2024, with an average price increase of 9%. Xinbang Pharmaceutical In response to the interactive platform, the company said that the rise in the price of some Chinese medicinal materials had a certain impact on the company's costs. For the Chinese medicinal materials with large use, the company had previously made certain strategic reserves according to the market situation, and the impact of the rise in the price of Chinese medicinal materials on the company's performance is currently controllable as a whole.

In addition, Xinbang Pharmaceutical Hongri Pharmaceutical 、 Xiangxue Pharmaceutical Chinese patent medicine enterprises, such as, said that they would strengthen the management of bidding for Chinese herbal medicines, continue to carry out research on Chinese herbal medicine varieties and market tracking, control procurement nodes, promote the cost optimization of Chinese herbal medicines, and minimize and avoid the impact of price fluctuations of Chinese herbal medicines on the company's business.

Many interviewees judged that the price of Chinese medicinal materials would continue to rise. In addition to price increase, how to deal with the tight supply is a problem that downstream enterprises of the TCM industry chain must think about.

　　 Yunnan Baiyao The relevant person in charge said that Sanqi is one of the company's main medicinal resources. Yunnan Baiyao Digital Sanqi Industrial Platform, which will continue to be iteratively upgraded after its launch in 2020, covers various links such as seed selection, scientific research and planting, production, third-party testing, modern warehousing, precise distribution, digital communication and negotiation, and electronic trading services, forming a complete and traceable industrial closed-loop loop, realizing upstream and downstream industrial linkage, and becoming the "Sanqi problem" Suppliers and leaders of integrated solutions.

A number of enterprises have actively carried out scientific research to tackle key problems, and have made efforts in subdividing tracks such as synthetic biology, so as to help solve the problem of scarcity of upstream Chinese medicinal materials at an early date. "For example, the scientific research and development of artificial bezoar and artificial musk have been carried out for decades, and the technology is increasingly mature." The head of the marketing department of the above enterprise believes that the emergence of artificial breeding products such as artificial bezoar and artificial musk has largely made up for the market gap caused by the shortage of natural raw materials.

Experts believe that relevant departments should establish a digital monitoring and early warning system for the whole industry chain, stabilize production by means of order farming, reduce intermediate links, ensure the sustainable use of traditional Chinese medicine resources, and promote the sustainable and healthy development of traditional Chinese medicine industry.