Guide: a few years ago, the export of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, which had been in a good situation before, fell into a downturn due to the increase of the threshold for international market access. However, in the past two years, Hangzhou's traditional Chinese medicine enterprises have quickly found a new breakthrough in Transformation - exporting traditional Chinese Medicineplant extracts。
According to Hangzhou inspection and quarantine data, from January to October this year, 457 batches of plant extracts were exported, 161.7 tons, with a value of US $29.168 million. The export batches and amount increased by 4.6% and 123.7% respectively. The value of exports has more than doubled.
Medicinal plant extracts with definite and quantifiable components are more easily accepted internationally than traditional Chinese medicinal materials
The name "plant extract" looks strange. In fact, it can be found everywhere in our daily life: botanical preparations, nutritional supplements, health food, cosmetics, etc. It is one or more of the natural plants that are physically or chemically extracted and separated, directionally obtained and concentratedActive ingredient, a new high-tech product formed without changing the structure of its active ingredients. The extracts of medicinal plants are the main raw materials of botanical preparations, and also the core products of the natural health care products market. Its development prospects are generally optimistic in the industry.
Zhong, chief of the biosafety Department of the plant division of Hangzhou inspection and Quarantine Bureau, said that in recent years, China's traditional herbal medicine export has faced the dual challenges of the shortage of domestic resources and the increasing threshold of foreign access. On the one hand, the traditional Chinese medicinal materials exported in the past are difficult to quantify due to their complex components, which have large toxic and side effects and are easy to produce drug resistance; On the other hand, due to the differences of cultural backgrounds of different countries, the understanding, legislation and management requirements of herbal medicine are different all over the world. This has seriously hindered the trade of traditional herbal medicine in the world.
"The extracts of medicinal plants can largely avoid these problems," Zhong saidplant extractsBecause of its known and quantifiable active ingredients, it is relatively easy to be accepted by countries all over the world, thus becoming the "common language" for the global application of traditional herbal medicine and an effective "gateway" for Chinese herbal medicine to enter the international market.
Plant extracts have broadened the export market of traditional Chinese Medicine
A powdered extract can sell for 600 dollars per kilogram
Zhejiang has always been a major province in the production of traditional Chinese medicine. Among genuine medicinal materials, the most famous one is "eight fames medical heroes of Zhejiang". Corydalis yanhusuo in "eight famus medical heroes of Zhejiang" is especially famous for its analgesic effect. The traditional Chinese medicine originated from Zhejiang has long traveled across the sea in the form of plant extracts, and has been made into oral or injection painkillers, which are widely used in the West.
Zhong said that at present, the extracts of yam, ginseng, Rhodiola, Lycium barbarum and blueberry are all popular plant extracts in the world, which are widely used in medicine and health care products. "There is an export pharmaceutical plant extract enterprise in Hangzhou District, which exported a large number of Ginkgo biloba extracts to Germany and made them into cardiovascular drugs, which achieved good clinical results. There is also an enterprise that exports powdered plant extracts, the most expensive of which can be sold for more than 600 US dollars per kilogram."
It is understood that in the past, the traditional Chinese herbal medicine export enterprises in Hangzhou had a narrow market. Take Zhejiang huisong pharmaceutical, the largest local exporter, as an example. In the past, the markets for exporting traditional herbal medicines were mostly Japan and Southeast Asia. Since the transformation of Exporting Medicinal plant extracts, the markets of EU, America and Australia have been greatly expanded, and the previous Japanese market has been reduced to 1/5.
According to the data of Hangzhou inspection and Quarantine Bureau, the export amount of medicinal plant extracts under the jurisdiction of Hangzhou inspection and Quarantine Bureau in 2013 was US $18.694 million. From January to October this year, the export value of plant extracts under the jurisdiction has reached US $29.168 million, a year-on-year increase of 123.7%.
Large investment in scientific research and production line of plant extracts
There are still some difficulties in promoting production in China
Although the medicinal plant extracts have many advantages, they also have the characteristics of high technical content, large added value and large development space. However, it is still difficult to promote production in China. The main reason is that the production mode of traditional Chinese medicinal materials is very different from that of plant extracts.
It is understood that the production and processing of traditional Chinese medicinal materials are mainly manual selection or simple machine selection. The investment in scientific research and production lines is relatively small, and it is in the low-end chain of the medicinal materials industry; Medicinal plant extracts need to be based on assembly line mechanized production, with large scientific research investment, and are in the high-end chain of the pharmaceutical industry.
In addition, the extraction of medicinal plants consumes a lot of raw materials. Generally speaking, the extraction ratio of raw materials to finished products is 100:1 for blueberry, 50:1 for ginkgo and 10:1 for ginseng. This means that the investment in production is very large, and the enterprise needs to have strong financial strength and storage capacity. A large-scale company consumes 4000 – 5000 tons of various Chinese herbal medicines every year, and the final possible extract is only 200 – 300 tons.
According to the relevant person in charge of the animal and plant division of Hangzhou Bureau, the current lack of industry standards and poor self-discipline in the plant extract industry have limited the sustainable development of the industry. In addition, with the increase of the international market for plant extracts, countries around the world, especially the developed countries and regions in Europe and the United States, have become more and more strict in the quality supervision of products, and pay more and more attention to the safety issues such as excessive pesticide residues and solvent residues, resulting in increasing technical barriers to trade. Therefore, he believes that if export enterprises want to break through the technical barriers of developed countries, they must formulateplant extractsExport standards have been strictly implemented, and further transformation and upgrading have been carried out by standardizing production, improving product quality.