Linking resource supplies and price drivers: Lessons from Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) price volatility and change, 2002–2017

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Worldwide, one of the drivers of substitution and adulteration is the cost of the natural resources (plants, animals, fungi) that are ingredients of traditional medicines. Relatively few studies have been done that link prices of traditional medicine ingredients to what drives changes in price, yet this is an important topic. Theoretically, prices have been widely considered as an economic indicator of resource scarcity. Rare, slow growing medicinal plants sell for high prices and common, less popular species for low prices. Price levels also influence the viability of farming vs. wild harvest (and incentives to overharvest high value species when tenure is weak). Prices can also influence the harvesting or buying behaviour of harvesters, traders or manufacturers. When prices are high, then there is a greater incentive to use cheaper substitute species or adulterants. As previous studies on herbal medicine ingredients have shown, adulteration applies in a wide variety of cases, including to some Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) species. Aim of the study: The aim of this study was to gain a better understanding of which factors influenced changes in the market prices of document prices for four popular, but very different traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) species (2002 -2017). Materials and methods: Fluctuations in market prices were followed over a 15-year period (2002-2017) for four very different TCM ingredients: two plant species (one wild harvested for fruits (Schisandra sphenanthera Rehder & E.H. Wilson) the other in a transition from wild harvest to cultivation (Paris polyphylla Smith), an animal species (the Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko L.)) and the entomophagous "caterpillar fungus" (Ophiocordyceps sinensis (Berk). G.H. Sung, J.M. Sung, Hywel-Jones & Spatafora).Results: High prices of medicinal plants are widely considered to reflect resource scarcity. Real-time market prices for three of the four very different TCM species we studied all showed major price fluctuations. The exception was P. polyphylla, whose wild populations are widely known to be increasingly scarce, where there was a steady increase in price, with few fluctuations in the upward price trend. The three other species showed significant price fluctuations. These were driven by multiple factors. Ecological and biogeographic factors that influence abundance or scarcity of supply certainly played a role. But other factors were also influential. These included both national and global economic factors (the influence of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC)), national policy changes that in turn influenced businessmen giving expensive gifts (that included O. sinensis)), climate change (influencing fruiting success of S. sphenanthera), price speculation by traders and lack of information (e.g: reduction in G. gecko prices due to traders incorrectly believing that domestication would increase supplies). Conclusions: Price fluctuations in the four TCM species we examined are influenced by many factors and not just resou...

Uncovering caterpillar fungus (Ophiocordyceps sinensis) consumption patterns and linking them to conservation interventions

“…In the qualitative interviews, we found a reduced tendency over time to purchase caterpillar fungus as a gift, as also observed byCunningham and Long (2019) who reported a dramatic caterpillar fungus price decrease as a result of the anti-corruption campaigns of President Xi Jinping.2 The survey was not broken down below the level of province (prefectural or county levels) in China, as there is little evidence, in either the literature or the authors' experiences, that consumers have any such detailed perceptions of origin.3 "Green food" refers to food produced and processed under the principles of sustainable development and certified by the China Green Food Development Center under the Ministry of Agriculture (seeSanders, 2006).…”

“…The product is widely distributed in alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan mountains in India, Nepal, and Bhutan (Li et al, 2011(Li et al, , 2021, harvested by hundreds of thousands of households (Pouliot et al, 2018;Sulek, 2019) and comprises one of the most important sources of income for high-altitude communities (Sulek, 2019;Timmermann & Smith-Hall, 2019;Winkler, 2009). The product was previously used in local medicinal practices and Traditional Chinese Medicine (Cunningham & Long, 2019), and current demand is driven by the rapidly growing middle-class in China that…”

“…The product is widely distributed in alpine grasslands on the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayan mountains in India, Nepal, and Bhutan (Li et al, 2011, 2021), harvested by hundreds of thousands of households (Pouliot et al, 2018; Sulek, 2019) and comprises one of the most important sources of income for high‐altitude communities (Sulek, 2019; Timmermann & Smith‐Hall, 2019; Winkler, 2009). The product was previously used in local medicinal practices and Traditional Chinese Medicine (Cunningham & Long, 2019), and current demand is driven by the rapidly growing middle‐class in China that constitutes the primary global market (He, 2018; Yeh & Lama, 2013). From 2002 to 2017, the retail price increased from around 3000 to 31,000 USD/kg (Cunningham & Long, 2019), with top‐quality specimens reaching 145,000 USD/kg (Li et al, 2021), likely making O. sinensis the most valuable renewable environmental product in the world, with an annual trade value worth billions of USD (Shrestha, 2012).…”

Quantitative study on medicinal plants traded in selected herbal markets of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan

“…Often a large number of species are traded in herbal markets (Ahmad et al 2018;Hoareau and DaSilva 1999), which in turn are influenced by ecological conditions, socio-economic features, development strategies and transportation systems (Botha et al 2004). The herbal business is quickly increasing globally (Kanwal and Sherazi 2017;Cunningham and Long 2019). Europe alone imports about US$ 1 billion worth in medicinal and aromatic plants annually from Asia and Africa (Sher and Hussain 2009).…”

Purification, characterization, antioxidant, and antitumor activity of polysaccharides isolated from silkworm cordyceps

“…Furthermore, many studies have confirmed that C. militaris has many striking bioactivities such as immunomodulatory (Liu et al., 2016), antitumor (Jo, Jang, Yang, Jang, & Park, 2020), anti‐aging(Ji, Jia, Li, Wang, & Cai, 2009), antioxidant (Chen, Wu, & Huang, 2013), anti‐inflammatory (Smiderle et al., 2014), anti‐influenza effects (Ohta et al, 2007), antifibrotic (Nan, Park, Yang, Song, Ko, & Sohn, 2001) and so on. However, the popularity and high demand for C. sinensis and C. militaris has led to the scarcity of them, leading to their classification as protected endangered species (Cunningham & Long, 2018).…”