A fair aiming to promote traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and encourage innovation within the industry will be held in Shenzhen from December 7 to 20.

China is the birthplace of TCM but on the global market has only a 2 per cent share. About 80 per cent of the market is dominated by Japan and 10 per cent by South Korea.

"The lack of standardization on intricate raw materials is one of the bottlenecks that hampers the development of TCM manufacturing," said Fan Hongzhe, general manager of China Medicinal Materials Company, a leading Chinese player in this field.

Unlike Western medicine, Chinese medicine mainly consists of herbs and animal tissues as well as a small number of minerals.

The export of these raw materials accounts for more than 65 per cent of the world market. Japan is the largest importer. But exports of the processed medicine products have steadily decreased in recent years.

Drug producers in China have been plagued by small scale, backward technology and financial problems, Fan said.

"Modernizing the TCM sector will be the key to the industry's development," said She Jing, vice-minister of health.

The upcoming TCM fair will focus on technical progress, advanced production equipment, modern theory and TCM trading.
　　
　　
　　From ChinaDaily