Warming up of export market of plant extracts in the first quarter of 2011

According to statistics from China Customs, in the first quarter of 2011, the import and export volume of plant extracts in China reached 310 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 46.4% year-on-year. The export volume was 270 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 53.4% ​​year-on-year, accounting for 48.4% of the export volume of Chinese medicines. The proportion of plant extracts in Chinese herbal medicines exports has gradually increased.

In general, the first quarter is the off-season of the export of plant extracts, and it is the low point of the annual export. However, the export of plant extracts in the first quarter this year showed different characteristics compared with previous years, showing a significant year-on-year growth compared to the previous year, and the export market for plant extracts began to pick up.

Surging demand in major markets

The U.S. and Japan are the traditional markets for the export of plant extracts from China, and they are also the largest markets, representing the wind-warming indicators of the plant extract market. In the first quarter, exports to the United States and Japan were US$42.057 million and US$36.068 million, respectively, an increase of 66.2% and 19.8%, respectively. In recent years, the export increase of Chinese plant extracts to the United States has increased by about 10%; for Japan, the export growth rate has reached 48.3% in the first two months, and it has only shown a short-term decline due to the increase in exports of the “3.11” earthquake. This indicates that the global market is heating up the demand for medicinal and health plant extracts, and the export market of plant extracts may usher in a new period of rapid growth.

In the first quarter, the EU market became the most eye-catching plant extract export market. In EU countries with Germany, Spain, and the United Kingdom as the main countries, the increase in imports of plant extracts from China in the first quarter was close to or exceeded 100%. The EU is one of the world's largest vegetable drug markets and one of the major destinations for Chinese proprietary Chinese medicine exports. According to the European Union's "Regulations on Traditional Plant Drug Registration Procedures," Chinese medicines that have not been registered under the new regulations before April 30, 2011 will be prohibited from selling. Reliance on good fortune and fortune, Chinese patent medicines forced to withdraw from the EU market will leave a huge room for growth in China's export of plant extracts. This is one of the main reasons for the exponential growth of the export of plant extracts from China in the first quarter. It is foreseeable that my export to the EU plant extracts will also show blowout phenomena for a long time to come.

Emerging highlights are worthy of attention

From the perspective of the export of plant extracts in the first quarter, some potential varieties have become the new darling of the market, and the rapid growth of emerging markets is also worthy of industry attention.

In recent years, the increase in natural pigments and stevia extracts has been rapid and has become a relatively important plant extract variety in the industry. However, few people mention the other potential ingredient of plant extracts, plant essential oils. Plant essential oil spices are widely used in food additives, cosmetics, proprietary Chinese medicines and other fields. The export volume of plant essential oil products in the first quarter was USD 61.952 million, which was an increase of 72.3% year-on-year and accounted for 23.3% of the export value of plant extracts. Among them, the largest amount of eucalyptus oil exports, the first quarter exports of $31.82 million, an increase of 75.8%. At the same time, four of the top ten exporters of plant extracts in the first quarter were mainly exporting plant essential oils, mostly concentrated in Yunnan and Guangdong.

In emerging markets, the export market for emerging plant extracts represented by Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, and Russia deserves attention. In the first quarter, the export volume of my plant extracts to these countries increased by more than 100%, and the export to Brazil increased by 352%. Most of these countries have huge population and consumption potential, which is very likely to become a new growth point for extracts exports in the future.

The export of plant extracts in the first quarter opened up a good start, and good news from all parties showed its strong growth. It is expected that the export of plant extracts will be recorded again in 2011. However, the future development of China's plant extractive industry still faces many challenges, such as the obvious trend of localization of global plant extracts; the country’s increasingly stringent environmental protection policies urge companies to continuously increase input costs; “Rutin Propolis” and a series of food safety incidents also give The industry sounded the alarm. Challenges and opportunities coexist, planting and picking industry should seize the opportunity to extend the industrial chain, expand the domestic market, strengthen the awareness of quality and safety, improve environmental protection standards, and strengthen self-discipline in order to ensure the healthy and sustainable development of the industry.