With the acceleration of the pace of life and the increase of work pressure, in recent years, the demand for women's health care products such as calming the nerves, regulating menstruation and soothing emotions has grown rapidly. The classic recipe Xiaoyao Pill is one of the representative varieties.
In this issue, Zhongkang Yunling Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry Data System analyzes the retail data of Xiaoyao Pill.
1. Xiaoyao Pill occupies the first place in the menstrual regulation of Chinese patent medicines
Figure 1: The pattern of gynecological proprietary drugs in the pharmaceutical retail market in 2023
According to Zhongkang CMH data, in 2023, the sales of gynecological Chinese patent medicines in the pharmaceutical retail market will be 6.71 billion yuan, of which the sales of menstrual regulating Chinese patent medicines will be 2.55 billion yuan, accounting for 37.94%, second only to gynecological anti-inflammatory and antibacterial drugs. Among the menstrual regulating drugs, Xiaoyao Pill has a leading market share, accounting for 24.65%, which is more than twice that of the second-ranked motherwort granules.
Figure 2: 2019-2023 sales of Xiaoyao pills in the pharmaceutical retail market (100 million yuan)
Among the menstrual regulating Chinese patent medicines, Xiaoyao Pill is the most prominent. In 2023, a total of 69 companies will produce and sell Xiaoyao Pills, with sales of 665 million yuan at the retail end, an increase of 29.9% year-on-year, leading the way for five consecutive years.
In 2023, the top five manufacturers in Xiaoyao Pill sales are Zhongjing Wanxi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Jiuzhitang Co., Ltd., Henan Jishi Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Anhui Zhanghengchun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., and Shanghai Baolong Anqing Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.
Second, the price increase of medicinal materials may lead to a price increase in Xiaoyao Pill
Figure 3: Raw material demand for Xiaoyao Pill in 2023 (unit: tons)
Xiaoyao Pill was first recorded in the Song Dynasty "Taiping Huimin and Pharmacy Formula", which is composed of angelica, bupleurum, licorice, atractylodes, white peony, poria cocos, and peppermint. According to the Zhongkang Yunling Traditional Chinese Medicine Industry Data System, the demand for raw materials at the retail end of Xiaoyao Pill in 2023 will be 2,133 tons, of which the demand for Atractylodes, White Peony, Poria Cocos, Angelica, and Bupleurum will be more than 350 tons. In the ranking of the demand for raw materials for these five varieties of Chinese patent medicines, Xiaoyao Pill ranks among the top 10.
In terms of enterprises, the raw material demand of the top five enterprises in the retail market accounted for 77.6% of the total demand for raw materials for the finished medicine, of which Zhongjing Wanxi had the largest demand, accounting for 32.9%.
In terms of variety, in 2023, a total of 671 Chinese patent medicines containing Atractylodes will be sold in the retail market, of which Xiaoyao Pill ranks fourth in terms of demand for Atractylodes, accounting for 5.9%.
Figure 4: In 2023, the demand for raw materials for Xiaoyao pills will account for the top 5 enterprises in the demand for medicinal raw materials
As shown in Figure 4, in 2023, Zhongjing Wanxi Pharmaceutical's demand for white peony for the production of proprietary Chinese medicine will be about 135 tons, of which the amount of white peony required for Xiaoyao Pill will account for 86.3%, which means that a large proportion of the company's purchase of white peony will be used for the production of Xiaoyao Pill.
Figure 5: Changes in the price of Xiaoyao pill medicinal materials from 2019 to 2023
As can be seen from Figure 5, the price of Xiaoyao Pill medicinal raw materials has ushered in a wave of increase in 2021, and the increase will further expand in 2023. Among them, the price of Atractylodes atractylodes has nearly tripled in the past year. The rise in the price of medicinal raw materials will inevitably lead to an increase in the cost of drugs. According to the pharmacopoeia prescription to make 160 pills of Dami pills, based on the price of medicinal materials in December 2022, the cost of raw materials for medicinal materials is about 22.5 yuan, and in 2023, it will increase to 41 yuan, and the cost has nearly doubled.
Looking at white peony again, due to the period from 2018 to 2021, the price of white peony has been close to the floor price, and the main producing areas have reduced the planting area of white peony, so that the production capacity of white peony has decreased year by year in the past three years.
As one of the core raw materials of Xiaoyao Pill, once the price skyrockets, it will have a negative impact on the production capacity of Xiaoyao Pill.
In the face of the soaring prices of medicinal materials in recent years, among the top 10 companies in the retail sales of Xiaoyao Pills, Jiuzhitang has announced an increase in the supply price of Xiaoyao Pills as early as the beginning of 2022, and recently, Foci Pharmaceutical has also announced an increase in the ex-factory price of its main Chinese patent medicines. It can be seen that the "butterfly effect" caused by the rise in the price of Chinese herbal medicines has been transmitted to downstream enterprises, and in the face of the surge in costs, the most direct way for Chinese patent medicine companies is to alleviate the cost pressure by increasing product pricing.
3. Enterprises need to be wary of the competition in the demand for similar drug raw materials
Figure 6: In 2023, the sales volume of retail menstrual regulation Chinese patent medicines will account for the top 10
As can be seen from Figure 6, thanks to the Amway and communication of netizens on social media, in 2023, the sales of "Xiaoyao Pill" series of drugs in the retail market will increase year-on-year, and among the top 10 drugs in terms of sales, "Xiaoyao Pill" series drugs will account for 3 seats.
In 2023, there will be 19 companies that produce and sell Jiawei Xiaoyao Pills, and Dan Yu Xiaoyao Pills will have 5 companies. Jiawei Xiaoyao Pill and Dan Gardenia Xiaoyao Pill are based on Xiaoyao Pill with peony skin and gardenia, and the core raw materials are still Atractylodes, white peony, Bupleurum and so on. Due to the fact that there is still a certain gap between the sales volume of the two and Xiaoyao Pills, the raw material demand of Jiawei Xiaoyao Pills and Dan Yu Xiaoyao Pills is only 1/3 of that of Xiaoyao Pills. However, enterprises still need to do a good job in raw material reserves, purchase appropriate amounts according to demand, and establish inventory.
Fourth, comprehensive evaluation
1. At present, there are a large number of gynecological drug production enterprises in China, and it is difficult to form a scale effect There is a homogenization problem in enterprise products, and the competition between major gynecological drug companies is fierce. In the future, with the gradual maturity of the gynecological drug industry, the gynecological Chinese patent medicine market is expected to achieve stable growth.
2. Beware of the rise in the price of related Chinese herbal medicine raw materials or even broken chain In the past 3 years, the price of Xiaoyao Pill series of Chinese herbal medicine raw materials has risen rapidly, such as white peony, danpi, angelica, gardenia and licorice, etc., to beware of relatively low-priced varieties such as bupleurum, poria and even mint, and the market has changed again.
In this regard, Zhongkang Yunling launched a price prediction system for Chinese herbal medicines, opened up the whole industrial chain of traditional Chinese medicine, and established an expert think tank to use artificial intelligence combined with expert opinions to predict the price trends of 331 commonly used Chinese herbal medicines in the short, medium and long term. In the future, Zhongkang Yunling will continue to optimize and upgrade the price prediction system of Chinese herbal medicines to help traditional Chinese medicine enterprises realize the long-term strategy of resources, so as to solve the problem of stable raw material prices, quality and supply of enterprises while "reducing costs and increasing efficiency".
(Unless otherwise noted in the article, the data are from Zhongkang Yunling)