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Raw Chinese medicinal herbs in short supply

CHINESE MEDICINAL herbs are in short supply with annual demand soaring to 600,000 tonnes, four times the amount of ten years ago, according to a senior health official.

The latest national research on natural herb resources found that China has 11,118 kinds of herbs with medicinal effects.

"The demand for natural medicinal herbs has been boosted by improved awareness of health and healthcare in an aging society," Vice-Health Minister She Jing told the International Ethnopharmacology Conference in Nanning, capital of southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

The Vice-Minister said on Friday that market demand for traditional Chinese medicine had maintained a 15 per cent annual increase over the past ten years. However, the crop area of medicinal herbs dropped from 270,000 hectares in 2003 to less than 200,000 hectares in 2004, because of the lack of supply of wild seeds.

It is estimated that at least 340,000 hectares of cropland is needed to meet the demand, but there is a shortage of about 80 of 400 commonly used herbs.

Customs figures show China exports 240,000 tonnes of medicines annually, of which 200,000 tonnes are raw herbs. The exported raw herbs accounted for 20 per cent of the country's annual harvest.

The Vice-Minister said natural herbs and traditional therapy were low in cost, and were proved to have fewer side-effects than chemical drugs. — Xinhua

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