Medicinal Herbs Squeezed Out

Prices for herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine increased throughout 2010, involving 84 percent of the 537 species in the market. Some grew by ten fold. People in the industry blame poor harvests, decline in grown area and investor speculation for the steep rise, which they say is a reaction to the suppressed market of some years ago. They also point out that a lack of a national organization and supervision plays a role in the wild price swings: an administration to oversee herbiculture and its primary processing has yet to be established. Though listed as agricultural products, herb-growers are not entitled to government subsidies that have been extended to grain production, stifling farmers' interest. So far only 20 to 30 percent of herbal species can be cultivated. The rest are only found in the wild, and are becoming rarer due to excessive harvesting and environmental degradation. The growing demand from abroad also exacerbates the depletion of China's dwindling herbal resources. The number of endangered herbal species has reached 168.