Incentive urged for TCM growth

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 ◆ Incentive urged for TCM growth

Chinese experts on medicines are urging the authorities to raise the economic leverage of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), by giving this area the status of a strategic industry such as that enjoyed by the automobile, oil and food industries.

They also call for improvements in the quality of TCM products, formulation of industrial standards and strengthening rules and regulations, as required to modernize the business, China Daily reports on Nov.2.

The global traditional medicine market is reportedly 10 billion US dollars annually, and China accounts for only 3 percent of the market, the newspaper says.

China exported 530-million-US dollar worth of TCM last year, about 60 million US dollars less than that in 1996.

Lack of a state strategic policy in China has given neighboring nations like Japan and the Republic of Korea, major rivals of China on TCM business, an advantage to compete for a bigger piece of the global market pie, the newspaper quotes Li Boxi, a researcher on TCM studies from the Development Research Center under the State Council, as saying.

The gap between China and other TCM producers will be shortened if more highlights with a clear development strategy are provided for China's TCM industry, Li believed.

The expert pointed out that pursuing massive production to reap short-term benefits at the cost of quality is a growing trend in China's TCM industry, which will divert the manufacturer's attention from quality control, production standards and market regulations and may lead to redundant production and waster of resources.

The lack of strict evaluation standards, standardized quality control, scientific date and industrialization are seen as the main causes of China's inferior position of TCM in world markets.

In contrast, enterprises in many developed countries, such as Japan and Italy, buy raw material from China and then process them into high-quality medicines which are sold back to China and other countries and regions, at high prices, according to the newspaper.

Li called for positive steps to regulate the business while offering new incentives in production, market access and technological renovations that can build up their strength to compete with foreign businesses.