In the first half of 2015, China's exports of Chinese medicinal materials fell 7.5% year on year
From January to June 2015, China's exports of Chinese medicinal materials and prepared slices of Chinese crude drugs amounted to 550 million USD, down 7.5% year on year. Export volume was 94,000 tons, up 3.27% year on year, and the average export price was 5.8 USD/kg, down 10.4% year on year. The decline in export prices was the main reason for the slowdown in the growth of Chinese medicinal materials and prepared slices. The main export varieties of Chinese medicinal materials and prepared slices of Chinese crude drugs are bulk varieties such as goji berry, ginseng and codonopsis. However, the export situation for these varieties was basically unfavorable, with either volumes rising and prices falling, or both volumes and prices falling. Among the top ten export varieties, 8 saw declines in export value, and the declines were all relatively large.
Asia remains the main market for China's Chinese medicinal materials and prepared slices. Hong Kong, China is the first market for exports of Chinese medicinal materials and prepared slices. In the first half of the year, mainland China exported 39,000 tons to Hong Kong, up 8.3% year on year; export value was 180 million USD, down 18.1% year on year; and prices fell 24.4% year on year. Japan is the second-largest market for China's exports of Chinese medicinal materials and prepared slices of Chinese crude drugs. From January to June, exports to Japan were 8,686 tons, down 11.2% year on year, export value reached 92.18 million USD, down 27.2% year on year; and export prices fell 18.0% year on year. There are two reasons for the decline in exports of Chinese medicinal materials: first, domestic prices of Chinese medicinal materials declined overall, which inevitably affected foreign trade prices; second, demand in traditional export markets for Chinese medicinal materials was sluggish.
In addition, several emerging markets are also worth watching. From January to June, markets such as Taiwan, China, Malaysia, the United States and the Netherlands still maintained growth of more than 20%. In particular, the growth in Taiwan is worth watching. From January to June, 5,869 tons of Chinese medicinal materials were exported to Taiwan, up 78.3% year on year, and export value was 31.05 million USD, up 34.5% year on year. As facilitation measures for cross-strait trade in Chinese medicinal materials are successively implemented, the trade volume in Chinese medicinal materials between the mainland and Taiwan will increase rapidly.