Prescription for growth in Western markets (hktdc.com)


	Jane Lai, Managing Director, Sealand Enterprises, explains Hong Kong's role in marketing traditional Chinese medicine to the West

	Cancer-fighting yunzhi products are in high demand

With its long history of using traditional Chinese medicine, Hong Kong was the obvious choice when it came for Shanghai Xinkang Pharmaceutical Factory to venture into the overseas market. The company, which specialises in researching and manufacturing cancer-fighting Chinese medicine and other health products, set up a joint venture with Hong Kong-based Sealand Enterprises last year to market its products abroad.

Shanghai Xinkang Pharmaceutical has made its name developing the product Coriolus Versicolor Polysaccaride Peptide (PSP), which is commonly used to complement chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment. The product Yunzhi PSP Essence, which is derived from a type of fungus, was granted a mainland patent nearly 20 years ago. It has since gone through several clinical trials, including by the University of Hong Kong. Three international conferences on PSP were also convened in Hong Kong.

"Hong Kong is an important channel to the overseas market, said Jane Lai, Managing Director of Sealand Enterprises. "Each year, trade fairs and symposiums draw international visitors to Hong Kong. It's a meeting place to showcase new products. It's very important to be here to meet buyers and customers interested in new product development of herbal products."

Shanghai Xinkang Pharmaceutical, which is a state-owned enterprise wholly owned by Shanghai Normal University, focuses on research and development of Chinese medicine products. Hong Kong-based Sealand is tasked with marketing and promotion. Ms Lai said that Hong Kong is one of the main target markets at the moment, with its yunzhi products currently selling at more than 60 retail shops. But she added that the company's yunzhi products are already well known in Chinese communities overseas such as Canada, the United States, Singapore and Indonesia.

Rising interest

"For Chinese people, traditional medicine is part of our lives, so it's very much accepted." Still, Ms Lai considers places such as Europe and North America untapped markets, with the growing interest in traditional Chinese medicine in the West. Ms Lai pointed out that it is no longer unusual to see traditional Chinese remedies such as Tiger Balm oil or herbal teas being sold in countries like Germany. And in the US, the company is in preliminary talks with a health supplement company to market its yunzhi products. "Being in Hong Kong makes all this possible," Ms Lai noted.

Sealand, though, has recently been unable to keep up with sales orders because of unforeseen events in the Chinese mainland. Reconstruction efforts following the Sichuan earthquake, as well as preparations in the run up to the Beijing Summer Olympics, have held up shipment of new stock. Those incidents have reinforced the company's long-term plans to relocate some of the product operations to Hong Kong. "We'd like to eventually move some part of the production, such as the encapsulation or packaging process here." Ms Lai said she has carried out a small-scale trial, and found that the production process in Hong Kong is inexpensive, yet "very efficient."

Sealand will be among the exhibitors at the International Conference & Exhibition of the Modernisation of Chinese Medicine & Health Products, to be held 14-18 August at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Organised by the Hong Kong Trade Development Council and The Modernised Chinese Medicine International Association Limited, the event, in its sixth year, has drawn members from the Chinese medicine and health products industry from Asia, North America, Europe and New Zealand. More than 7,500 buyers from 65 countries and regions attended last year's fair. A two-day conference will be held concurrently with the trade fair, with leading experts in the field scheduled to speak at the event.