Every hot herbal extract in America, the largest demander of products featured by herbal extracts, is developed on the basis of scientific and clinical results published by western scientists, and the studied herbs primarily grow in Europe and America, domestic players need to consider in this condition how to get a chance to lead the industry, said Dr. Zheng Qunyi, president of Herbalife (Hunan province).

Data
The report provides sales and trend of herbal products in America in 2000 to 2012. The sales were $5.6 billion in 2012, 30 percent up compared to $4.2 billion of 2000. The top ten popular extracts in herbal products include (sequenced by amount of usage): Flaxseed extract, Barley grass extract, Curcumin, Aloe extract, Spirulina extract, Milk thistle extract, Elderberry extract, Saw palmetto extract, Echinacea extract and Cranberry extract. Most of the herbs grow in the west and the ones from China are recently cultivated Aloe, Spirulina and Milk thistle. The 11th to 20th largest-sale extracts include Garlic extract, Soybean extract, Ginkgo extract, Ginseng extract, Valerian Root extract, Green tea extract and St.John' Wort extract. These extracts are the basis of domestic herbal extract industry. But there are few innovations from China.

Challenges
The domestic, even global, herbal extract industry is seeing more rigorous production regulation, stricter government management, requirement of higher quality, more sophisticated testing and analytical techniques, larger players and harder entrance to the market.
The layout will change not only in China but also in the world. The combination of rich herbal resource and lower prices helps India grab the global market share now, competing with China, a leading supplier in 1990s.

Innovation
When Black cohosh extract was imported to America from Canada as herbal medicine at the price of $50 one box, there was no method to test the peak of saponins and so it's urgent to find way to test the level of efficient ingredients. Dr. Zheng and his team succeeded in detecting adulterated black cohosh, and made the company into the first supplier of triterpenoid saponin standard in North America.
The story told us technical innovation may bring us more profits and more opportunities. Maybe domestic players should improve themselves with technical and product innovations, not just being a seller.

Copyright：Herbridge Media