From January to June 2015, the export of traditional Chinese medicine decreased by 7.5% compared with the same period last year.

From January to June 2015, China's exports of traditional Chinese medicine and prepared pieces of traditional Chinese medicine totaled US $550 million, down 7.5 per cent from the same period last year. The export volume was 94000 tons, up 3.27% from the same period last year, and the average export price was 5.8USD / kg, down 10.4% from the same period last year. The decline in export prices is the main reason for the slowdown in the growth of traditional Chinese medicine and prepared slices. The main varieties of traditional Chinese medicine and pieces of traditional Chinese medicine for export are Chinese wolfberry, ginseng, Codonopsis pilosula and other bulk varieties. However, the export situation of these varieties is basically not optimistic, or volume increases and prices fall, or both volume and prices fall. Among the top 10 export varieties, the export volume fell by 8, and the decline was relatively large.

Asia is still the main market of traditional Chinese medicine and prepared slices in China. Hong Kong, China is the primary market for the export of traditional Chinese medicine and prepared slices. In the first half of the year, mainland China exported 39000 tons to Hong Kong, an increase of 8.3% over the same period last year; exports totaled US $180 million, down 18.1% from the same period last year; and prices fell 24.4% from the same period last year. Japan is the second largest market for the export of traditional Chinese medicine and prepared slices of traditional Chinese medicine, with exports to Japan of 8686 tons from January to June, down 11.2 percent from the same period last year. Exports reached US $92.18 million, down 27.2 percent from the same period last year, and export prices fell 18.0 percent from the same period last year. There are two reasons for the decline in the export of traditional Chinese medicine: first, the overall decline in domestic prices of traditional Chinese medicine, foreign trade prices are bound to be affected by it; second, the export market demand of traditional Chinese medicine is not prosperous.

In addition, several emerging markets are also worth watching. From January to June, markets such as Taiwan, Malaysia, the US and the Netherlands continued to grow by more than 20 per cent. The increase in Taiwan is of particular concern. From January to June, exports of traditional Chinese medicine to Taiwan were 5869 tons, an increase of 78.3 percent over the same period last year, and exports totaled US $31.05 million, an increase of 34.5 percent over the same period last year. With the implementation of the facilitation measures of traditional Chinese medicine trade between the two sides of the strait, the trade volume of traditional Chinese medicine between the mainland and Taiwan will increase rapidly.