The price increase of Chinese medicinal materials is good or bad for the centralized procurement of Chinese patent medicines

Before the collection of proprietary Chinese medicines, is it a good thing to increase the price of Chinese medicinal materials?

01 Expert: Before the collection of proprietary Chinese medicines, it is a good thing to increase the price of raw medicinal materials

01 Expert: Before the collection of proprietary Chinese medicines, it is a good thing to increase the price of raw medicinal materials

Recently, the news that Chinese patent medicines will enter the centralized procurement and that the prices of Chinese medicinal materials have generally risen has become a hot spot of social concern after being reported by CCTV
.

In this regard, some industry experts said: In fact, before Chinese patent medicines will enter the centralized procurement, the market for Chinese medicinal materials has seen a general rise.
For Chinese medicine manufacturers, especially those that can successfully win the bid in the centralized procurement bidding, Not necessarily a good thing!

Why do you have this insight?

The expert explained: The medicine market is like the stock market.
In the Chinese medicinal material industry, no matter what kind of medicinal material, the price fluctuates, it is not a rare thing
.

Since there is a general rise, there will be a general fall, and since there is a major rise, there will be a major fall.

In other words, this time the centralized procurement of proprietary Chinese medicines is approaching, but the raw materials of Chinese medicinal materials have seen a general rise, which will encourage those companies that are preparing to enter the centralized procurement bidding to calculate the production cost based on the current price increase market raw material prices, and then quote in the centralized procurement.
Reflected on the above
.

Looking at the problem from the opposite side, before the collection of proprietary Chinese medicines, if the price of Chinese medicinal materials drops sharply, it will be a tricky thing for those manufacturers that bid or win the bid!

Because if the price of raw materials is running at a low level, the quotation unit will definitely lower the quotation of the finished medicine on the basis of calculating the production cost.
If the price of some Chinese medicinal materials rises in the later period, the production company will lose its evidence and lose a lot.
Profit margins may even bring losses to the company
.

Therefore, the industry expert said frankly: It depends on the fact that the price of Chinese medicinal materials will rise before the centralized procurement of Chinese patent medicines.
This is not a bad thing for those manufacturers who are about to intervene in the centralized procurement
.

02 The author: There is an artificially high market for Chinese medicinal materials

02 The author: There is an artificially high market for Chinese medicinal materials

Regarding the expert's opinion, the author deeply agrees with it, but also cannot agree with everything
.

Why do you want to say this? Because it is a matter of fact, these words he said are still very well-founded
.

Although the prices of many Chinese medicinal materials seem to have gone up at present, the reason for the price increase is due to some special circumstances, and there are many varieties that do appear to be inflated

For example, this kind of honeysuckle is in this situation during the price increase
.

Honeysuckle has a wide producing area and large planting area, and it is not out of stock in the market.
It is a sensitive variety in the Chinese medicinal industry.
Once winter and spring, the price of a common cold in the world will change.
Just about to move
.

During the period of the new crown epidemic, the market for this species has experienced a large fluctuation from 140 yuan to 270 yuan per kilogram, which is an abnormal phenomenon
.

When an epidemic occurs, the price of honeysuckle will skyrocket, and the epidemic will be lifted or alleviated, and the price of honeysuckle will then decline or be directly beaten back to its original shape

In addition, the soaring prices of medicinal materials such as safflower and wild jujube are all indirectly or directly related to the new crown epidemic
.

The main production areas of safflower are concentrated in Xinjiang and Yunnan, which are annual varieties.
Last year, the planting area of ​​the production area was small and the market inventory was insufficient.
The price rose.
This year, due to the drought and the lack of rain in the production area, the decrease in yield per acre and the obstruction of the epidemic situation, many migrant workers from other provinces are picking migrant workers.
Unable to travel to Xinjiang, the wages of helpers increased significantly during the production and new period, which caused the market to continue to rise
.

However, the market for wild jujube kernels has risen, which is not much different from the situation of safflower.
In addition to the declining market inventory, another aspect is that due to the epidemic, the trip of pickers is blocked, resulting in a small amount of new products listed in the early stage.
At present, many people are reluctant to sell the goods and sell them at a price
.

In the short term, speculation means a lot.

Therefore, from the perspective of the price increase of the above varieties, the analysis of industry-related experts is still very well-founded
.

Based on this, the author still agrees with his views

However, some agreement does not mean total agreement.
I personally believe that, as the expert said, since things should be divided into two, then the price of Chinese medicinal materials has seen a general rise this time, and the reasons are caused by many factors
.

Since the reasons are caused by many aspects, we cannot interpret the problem unilaterally

It is true that judging from the prices of those Chinese medicinal materials with inflated prices, there is no doubt that prices will fall in the future.
However, if we analyze from other aspects, the future results of many medicinal materials that have increased in price may not necessarily be the same in the future
.

In other words, the prices of many varieties have risen, but it is very difficult to fall back
.

Speaking of this, many people may also ask why? So, let me analyze and analyze for everyone based on my personal point of view

03 "Helpers shortage" appeared in the production of Chinese medicinal materials

03 "Helpers shortage" appeared in the production of Chinese medicinal materials

Nowadays, many Chinese medicinal materials are produced in many places where the rural population is extremely mobile.
Most of the young and middle-aged people with working ability go out to work or do business.
Most of the villages have become "hollow villages", and the rest are mostly 386199 troops (women, children) , The elderly)
.

When encountering medicinal materials harvesting, the elderly can't do it.
Children need adult care at home.
There are not too many people who can actually go shirtless.
Even if there are, the wages of helpers will not be low
.

This is especially true for those wild medicinal materials.
In the past, there were a large number of "medicine collectors" in rural or mountainous areas, so many wild medicinal materials were abundant and the market was not out of stock
.

However, with the continuous loss of young and middle-aged labor in rural areas, the group of "pharmaceutical collectors" has gradually withered
.

Left-behind children, women and the elderly, either can't walk away or can't do it.

04 The improvement of quality needs to be reflected in the price

04 The improvement of quality needs to be reflected in the price

In recent years, with the tightening of market supervision and the continuous improvement of pharmacopoeial standards, the improvement of the quality of Chinese medicinal materials also needs to be reflected in the price
.

Needless to say, the 2020 edition of the Pharmacopoeia has added a pesticide residue inspection item, which adds thousands of yuan to the cost of each inspection for those plant medicinal materials
.

For an epimedium variety, the new pharmacopoeia adds the words "pick the leaves" under the item of decoction pieces, and the price difference in specifications is immediately reflected in the market: the leaves picked from the epimedium cost 160 yuan per kilogram, non-pick The price of original medicinal materials for the leaves is 90 yuan per kilogram
.

In addition, the 2020 edition of the Pharmacopoeia adds the volatile oil inspection items for Forsythia suspensa.
This product has a price difference of 40 yuan in the market.
The price of sufficient volatile oil has risen to 140 yuan per kilogram, and the price of insufficient volatile oil is 100 yuan.
About one kilogram
.

The stricter the supervision, the higher the pharmacopoeia standards.
The raw materials, Chinese medicinal materials or Chinese medicinal pieces that meet the pharmacopoeia and qualified content will become more expensive, and their prices will become higher and higher in the future.
As a result, many Chinese medicinal materials Once the price rises, it is difficult to fall back
.

05 A standardized security system requires higher cost maintenance

05 A standardized security system requires higher cost maintenance

Regardless of Chinese medicine or western medicine, it is a special commodity, which plays a role in curing diseases and saving people, and is related to the life, health and safety of the general public
.

Therefore, in recent years, the government has continuously increased its supervision in the pharmaceutical field, and the relevant quality standards of the pharmacopoeia are gradually improving
.
So, in this regard, in order to ensure the quality of medicines in the centralized procurement of Chinese patent medicines in the future, relevant departments will certainly set certain framework requirements when bidding
.

for example:

1: Will standards be set for the specifications and grades of the raw materials and Chinese medicinal materials for the tendered Chinese patent medicines?

2: Whether Chinese medicine raw materials would be the source of some aspects of Chinese herbal medicines constraints, and so on
.

These conditions are the key to increasing the cost of proprietary Chinese medicine products
.
For those bidding or winning bidders, if the raw material specification level is required to be "good quality goods" that "not be lower than the pharmacopoeia standard or must be higher than the pharmacopoeia standard", then some Chinese medicines with low prices and qualified ingredients Materials such as "small series, small strips, small pieces" and other specifications can no longer be used
.

In addition, if the central procurement aspect also proposes to standardize and improve the traceability system of the enterprise product industry chain, it means that the raw materials of the corresponding proprietary Chinese medicine products must be derived from the local real estate, or more strictly speaking, the drugs that the enterprise should target In terms of raw material supply, it must have its own GAP planting base
.

If centralized procurement increases the above requirements, for those bid-winning companies, it means that although some Chinese medicinal materials on the industry market have fallen in price, the production costs of their own companies cannot be reduced at all.
Instead, they have to increase GAP in terms of raw material supply.
Planting layout, invest more funds to meet the requirements of centralized procurement
.

06 The price increase of many Chinese medicinal materials is a manifestation of the return of natural value

06 The price increase of many Chinese medicinal materials is a manifestation of the return of natural value

As some experts have said, the ups and downs of the prices of many Chinese medicinal materials are not entirely caused or driven by man-made speculation, pandemic influenza, droughts and floods
.
There is also no shortage of the fact that the vast number of pharmaceutical farmers planted disorderly, and found that the price had risen rapidly, and found that the price had fallen
.

Gold valuable medicines are priceless.
No matter which medicinal material is planted, more and more supply will exceed demand, and then there will be an over-market situation
.
Over-market conditions will inevitably cause sales difficulties
.
By this time, the majority of pharmaceutical farmers even sometimes cannot even recover the planting costs
.
As a result, the mentality of "I was bitten by a snake once, I was afraid of well ropes for ten years" and no longer planted this species
.

However, few people plant it, and after a few years of consumption, certain medicinal materials will rise again in the market due to the empty inventory.
Such a price increase is a natural return of normal value
.

For example, in the recent wave of price increases of Chinese medicinal materials, although the prices of these medicinal materials such as Baizhu, lily, white peony root, and Moutan bark have also increased in price, it should be noted that the increase in the price of these medicinal materials is greater than the external cause.
The price increase of some varieties cannot be generalized
.

In recent years, the prices of these varieties have bottomed out due to excessive planting.
The planting of these varieties is almost unprofitable, and even some medicinal materials are planted at a loss.
Therefore, the price increase this time has "Following the trend" is suspected, but in more substantive aspects, they should be summarized as a phenomenon of "bottoming out"
.

For example, the variety of Baizhu
.

In previous years, the normal price of Atractylodes macrocephala has been around 25-30 yuan per kilogram for many years.
However, with the increase in planting area in recent years, the price once dropped to 14-16 yuan per kilogram from 2019 to 2020.
In 2021, that is, In the first half of this year, its price rose to the current 18-20 yuan per kilogram following the market for Chinese medicinal materials.
In this way, you can’t say that this variety is "increasing prices randomly" or "following the trend.
" It should be a real trend of value return
.

07 Inflation is a stumbling block to the fall in prices of Chinese medicinal materials

07 Inflation is a stumbling block to the fall in prices of Chinese medicinal materials

Regarding the topic of inflation, the author gave a certain interpretation in the article "Prices of Chinese Medicinal Materials Raise, Manufacturing Companies Difficult" (click to read) by Cyberlan on August 20th last month
.
Now, we might as well analyze it from another side
.

In this small city where the author lives, ten years ago, a bowl of beef soup for five yuan was pretty good
.

But five years ago, a bowl of beef soup for five yuan sold for 10 yuan, nothing changed, but the price of beef soup
.

To this day, the beef soup sold in that shop is still made of the same materials, but the price is 20 yuan a bowl
.

This is the power of inflation
.
Similarly, under normal circumstances, the market and price trends of Chinese medicinal materials are also the same
.

Ten years ago, those Chinese herbal medicines worth two or three yuan per kilogram, such as artemisia annua, small thistle, plantain, motherwort and other medicinal materials, five years ago, unknowingly, the prices of these varieties had risen to four.
, Five yuan per kilogram, today, we look back again, these varieties worth four or five yuan per kilogram five years ago, at present, if you don’t give a price of ten yuan or eight yuan per kilogram, you are really buying them.
Don't go anymore
.

With the development of the times, and the added value of planting, harvesting, fertilizers, helpers, transportation, storage, etc.
continue to rise and accumulate, the prices of many medicinal materials have also undergone great changes, not only a small increase in two years, or three years.
A big increase, and once the prices of many varieties rise up, it is difficult to fall down
.

Why is this happening? Because inflation is always there! It not only affects all aspects of your and my life, but also penetrates into the Chinese herbal medicine industry-and these are exactly what the author told the industry-related experts.
"Currently, the prices of Chinese herbal medicines are generally rising, and there will be general declines in the future.
The market is now showing up.
In the future, there will definitely be a "big down" point of view, and there are a few personal opinions that I can't agree with
.

Based on the above analysis, that is to say, after the Chinese patent medicine enters the centralized procurement, the relevant bid-winning enterprises may in the future reduce the production cost and increase the product profit due to the price drop of some Chinese medicinal materials.
Of course , This is a very likely thing
.

But it must be said that all the Chinese medicinal materials that have undergone the “general rise and great improvement” of the market will surely have the result of “general and great decline” in price in the future, and thus make those who enter the centralized procurement bid winners For pharmaceutical manufacturers, it is unrealistic to save a lot of procurement costs and make a lot of money in this regard
.

In short, before the centralized procurement of proprietary Chinese medicines has been officially implemented, and at a time when the current trend of Chinese medicinal materials has been rising, all conclusions are too early.
Let us wait and see what the future holds
.