Chinese herbal medicines have experienced the highest prices in the past decade

The core hints that in 2010, 84% of the 537 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines in the national market went up, with an average increase of 109%, and 96 varieties with more than 100% increase. Since March 2011, prices of Chinese herbal medicines have entered the fourth round of peaks. Compared with the previous three rounds, this is the sharpest increase since the founding of New China.

In the past ten years, Chinese herbal medicines have entered the most fierce fourth round of price hikes. The anxiety of the Chinese medicine industry has only affected the long-term development of the industry from 50 to 500 yuan. It takes only one year. This unusual medicinal material used to treat children's fever has suddenly become a "noble", and now Qingping Market, known as the "barometer" of Chinese herbal medicines prices, is already a night out.

Of course, crazy is not only too ginseng. Ophiopogon japonicus, Panax notoginseng, and even most of the “Liangguang” licorice and yam, which are often used for soups and herbal teas, are rushing into the high-speed lanes of rising prices. For the old patients who have always relied on the advantages of Chinese medicine for "beneficial, convenient, safer, and cheaper", this is nothing less than "drug life." For the traditional Chinese medicine industry, which has gradually become warmer in recent years, it is worthwhile to take the lead.

According to the monitoring data of the Chinese Medicine Association, in 2010, 84% of 537 kinds of Chinese herbal medicines in the national market went up in price, with an average increase of 109%, and 96 varieties with more than 100% increase. Since March 2011, prices of Chinese herbal medicines have entered the fourth round of peaks. Compared with the previous three rounds, this is the sharpest increase since the founding of New China. Jiang Liangguo, deputy director of the Chinese Medicine Information Center of the Chinese Medicine Association, said in an interview with reporters that prices of Chinese herbal medicines will also have some room for growth this year, and there is no downward trend in price in the near future.

Who is pushing crazy prices for Chinese herbal medicines? Did the natural disaster cause the failure of the harvest and speculation in the hot money, or did the brokers secretly profit? How long can this madness go crazy?

Text / Chart reporter Qiu Ruixian intern Xiao Guilai in Guangzhou Qingping Chinese herbal medicine wholesale market, now want to buy heterophylla, often difficult to meet the enthusiastic owner.

market:

Crazy heterophylla is actually in the Chinese herbal medicine industry, Taizishen has always been low-key. After the beginning of 2010, a series of price arrogance made this unusual medicinal material become the hottest “star” in the Chinese herbal medicine market.

The prices of Taizishen in Qingping Chinese herbal medicine market in Guangzhou can be described as advancing with the times. “Taikos ginseng rarely exceeded 100 yuan per kilogram. The price at the end of 2009 was only 20 to 30 yuan. It rose to about 50 yuan at the beginning of 2010. Then it was like sitting in a helicopter. It turned nearly 10 times last year. Now it has 500 yuan soon." An expert in the market to purchase medicines admits that the rising price of Taizishen on a daily basis is like a frightening "demon stock", and now he has not dared to rush to "store", "high prices It's bizarre, it's not normal. What if you're in your hands?"

According to data from the Guangdong Provincial Price Inspection Center, in the early July of last year, the price of Taizi ginseng was only 82 yuan/kg, only one month later, it reached 180 yuan/kg in early August. The latest price that the reporter learned from the Qingping Chinese herbal medicine wholesale market in Guangzhou yesterday was: 460 yuan/kg.

Before a bunk, the boss heard too radix ginseng, and the goods were too lazy to come out: "Now do you buy or not? You don't need to look at the goods." After a while, the shop's folks took out from the back room shelves. Several plastic packets. “A lot of stores are not available, and it is worth noting that you will not get low prices for goods. Naturally, it is not cheap!” the guy asked him casually: “A pound of 240 yuan.”

price:

In the past, a few rises have now risen by a hundred yuan. The crazy is not only Taizishen. Wang Zeng, the owner of the Qingping medicinal herbs market, told reporters that the tide of Chinese medicine prices has continued for some time. His herbal medicine prices in most of his stores are steadily increasing compared with Taizishen. “The original price of Sanqi is 0.2 yuan/g, and it has now risen to 0.66 yuan/g.” As a medicinal material considered to have blood-boosting effect, Panax pseudoginseng has received a high degree of attention in the Chinese herbal medicine industry, "because of its use Very wide, many medicines must use this medicine."

“The March 7 was famous in the medicine industry. The main reason was that last year's drought in the southwestern region was due to a poor harvest. The March 7 sudden large area was out of stock. The price rose almost in a year,” said Hong Yunyun, a pharmacist at the Second Pharmacy Department of Guangdong Provincial Second Hospital. In the Chinese medicine industry, many people believe that the rise in prices for Panax notoginseng has opened up the fourth wave of price increases for Chinese herbal medicines.

After the “SARS” period of 1988, 1992 and 2003, the fourth round of price increases came under the supervision of the Chinese Medicine Association. According to the monitoring data of the Chinese Medicine Association, 84% of the 537 Chinese herbal medicines in the national market increased in price in 2010. At 5% to 180%. Among them, 28% of Chinese herbal medicines rose more than 51%, and 2% more than 300%. Cordyceps sinensis, donkey-hide gelatin, American ginseng, heterophylla, panax pseudoginseng, and cattle-brown varieties topped the list. This is also the most dramatic increase in the past decade.

“Lifting jump prices”, Xiao Li, the owner of the franchise business in Ningxia, summarizes the changes in prices of Chinese herbal medicines in the past year. “In the past year, selling licorice for a few bucks has climbed a steep slope of several tens of yuan, and a medicinal material store has already marked 30 yuan per catty.” In his impression, the ginseng herbs also rose scary, years ago. Less than one hundred yuan, now has risen to about 250 yuan per catty, "in the past, prices are generally a few dollars a few dollars, and now is a hundred dollars to rise."

industry:

Can't afford to hurt the price of rising

"From September 2009 to now, but over a year ago, our hospital has opened three drug price bidding meetings. This has never happened before." Hong Xiaoyun entered the pharmacy department in 2005. In his memory, from 2005 to 2009 During the five years of the year, a total of three tenders were also held.

“If price adjustments are made for individual species, we will start a small tender meeting with distribution distributors. However, over the past year, there are dozens of varieties of medicinal material distribution dealers telling us that the original The price could not go any further.” To prevent the dealer’s small actions, Hong Yunyun, who is in charge of the procurement, went to Qingping Market to see the price. “There is a barometer for the price of Chinese herbal medicines. When I saw it, I found it was really skyrocketing.”

"The purchase price has been adjusted, but drug prices have not dared to make frequent adjustments because old patients, who have been taking traditional Chinese medicine all year round, have risen by a few cents. They will be very sensitive, and they will lose over time." Hong Yunyun felt helpless.

“A lot of patients have been complaining that drug prices are getting more and more expensive. We try to avoid excessive price increases. For example, if honeysuckle is too expensive, we choose dandelion, wild chrysanthemum, etc., as well as detoxification, but even so, the average price of a single prescription has been Last year's 83.59 yuan/party rose to 102.7 yuan/party, an increase of 15% or so, said Shen Jianhua, director of Liwan District Chinese Medicine Hospital.

“The Chinese medicine decoction pieces are fine and can be followed by the market. There are many Chinese patent medicines that have entered the national essential medicine list and have limited prices. Therefore, the companies are relatively injured.” Said a salesman in a pharmacy on Dade Road. The arrogance of the price of Chinese herbal medicines does not currently “fall” to a pharmacy in Daedue Road of Chinese patent medicines. The price of a famous brand of proprietary Chinese medicines with major ingredients such as Panax notoginseng, Bletilla striata, and licorice is RMB 10 per box. Another brand Similar capsules are sold for only 15 yuan/box. Sales staff told reporters that the price of these commonly used drugs is basically stable, "Remembering to go over 5 cents, it has been a long time. You look at the price tag of this drug, you know, or the old price six months ago."

Behind the scenes:

"Drought is just a hype concept"

The grandfather of Sun, who was near to Huajia, had been doing business in Chinese herbal medicine for nearly 30 years in the Qingping Chinese herbal medicine wholesale market. “This year, people are getting more and more expensive, prices are going up, and drug prices are going up.” He thinks that this is “according to the market, it goes up,” but “it is so fast, it's still the first time!”

"Chinese medicine prices rise, and other agricultural products, as the price increases, artificial high!" Main class owner of the drug store boss Lao Yu said, "The price rose, the business is not good. No one dared to start to buy, can not sell Don't make money!” Many people see that the ginseng is more expensive and they are looking for other medicines.

In the end who is promoting Chinese medicine prices? The old analysts believe that the price of Taizi ginseng has risen this year, which is related to the reduction of production due to the climatic causes of its main producing areas such as Fujian, Yunnan and Guizhou. "Like last year's severe drought in the southwest and continuous drought in the north of this year, this has led to a decline in the yield of most medicinal herbs, which makes things rare."

On the other hand, the number of farmers who are willing to grow Chinese herbal medicine is decreasing. "Fertilizers and pesticides are rising. No one is willing to plant herbal medicine!" said Lao Yu. He once went to Anhui to purchase medicinal herbs and the farmers and farmers complained: they could not make money. It's better to go out to work.

“In my opinion, the price increase of traditional Chinese medicine has four major factors. First, it is a social factor. With the increasing emphasis on traditional Chinese medicine in recent years, the demand for Chinese herbal medicines has risen. Second, environmental factors have increased natural disasters in recent years. , earthquakes, droughts, etc. all caused a decline in the production of Chinese herbal medicines; the third was the influx of hot money, many capitals were withdrawn from markets such as real estate and stocks, and aimed at the new investment path of Chinese herbal medicines; and fourth, human factors, the cost of planting Chinese herbal medicines increased, but The skyrocketing prices have not translated into the benefits of drug peasants, but more and more people are pouring into the distribution chain and multiple agents are increasing their prices."

In Hong Yunyun's view, the first two factors are excuse for the latter two factors. “Social and environmental factors are the incentives for price increases, giving consumers a psychological hint, pushing up rigid demand, and then hot money and middlemen are pushing them up and causing skyrocketing prices.”

“If the price of Panax rose sharply due to drought in southwest China in 2010, it was actually the market’s push to use the concept of drought. 37 did fail, but experts know that Chinese herbal medicines are not sold in the same year they were harvested. Six months to one or two years of inventory, valuable medicine more 2 to 3 years of inventory. A large area out of stock is certainly a large number of goods." He analyzed.

problem:

Pricing "no standard", price "no solution"?

Due to the agricultural products, the cultivation of Chinese medicinal materials is influenced by the climate, geography, and other environments, and the properties of "Tao" are often emphasized, and the origin is often very concentrated. A Chinese medicinal material, the main producing area is only in the area of ​​several counties, so it is relatively easy to control the upstream planting resources. Lao Yu introduced that in the current more than 500 kinds of commonly used Chinese medicine, many may only need tens of millions of dollars to control the industrial chain. Even if the amount of Chinese herbal medicine such as licorice is used in large amounts, the capital of several hundred million is enough to "control the situation." ".

The other in-line drug dealer said that Chinese herbal medicines “have a high buy but a low buy” and have a similar pattern with the property market. "We don't buy 150 yuan a kilogram, and we think that we can also lower it, drop it, and drop it to 170 yuan a kilogram."

"Last year in March when the sky rose sharply, the state took it." Hongyun Yun said that at that time the relevant management departments to find a few large companies to carry out interviews, the skyrocketing price of 37 was suddenly braked. "Now, so many varieties are rising, who will come to sell? How to get it? For a long time, there is still a government-guided price, the price of Chinese herbal medicines can not be without constraints."

Xiao Peigen, academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Honorary Director of the Institute of Medicinal Plant Research of China, clearly stated that the price of Chinese herbal medicines lies in how this guidance price is set. “The pricing standards need to have quality standards, but Chinese medicine currently lacks this.” According to Hong Yunyun, this is also the lifeblood where traditional Chinese herbal medicines have been plagued.

“Our usual purchases often rely on product pricing. Because Chinese herbal medicines are well-known for their compatibility, each Chinese herbal medicine itself has dozens of chemical components that are often associated with a therapeutic effect, which makes it difficult to give a clear pricing for each Chinese herbal medicine. How to price it depends on the size of 3,000 pieces per kilogram or 4,000 pieces per kilogram, but it is not the price, but whether buyers and sellers are willing to bear. In fact, in terms of efficacy, the two are similar."

Hong Xiaoyun believes that, in the eyes of investors, the investment value of Chinese herbal medicines is similar to the still-in-prosperity of Pu'er tea, and this “no standard” is just a space for profit.