中药出口在传统市场弹性需求的推动下迅速攀升，而“一带一路”倡议也激发了参与国以及地区的新需求。
2017年，中国以专利药品、提取物和原料的形式出口了358000吨中药，同比增长0.7%。根据中国医药保健品进出口商会的数据，中药出口额现已达36亿美元，增幅为2.1%。
安徽亳州中药测试中心的工作人员正在准备中药样品（中国日报 刘勤利 摄）
中国领先制药企业，太极集团海外业务部主任王涛表示赞同。随着中国经济的快速发展，中国在全球的影响力日益增强，中国品牌也越发受到世界的认可。“一带一路倡议尤其有助于中医药的推广，使中国增进与其他地区的交流，让其他地区对中国以及中国文化有更深层的了解。”
太极集团在2015年通过设立海外事业部加速其业务的全球扩张。太极集团一直密切关注中医药在国外的普及以及“一带一路”倡议所带来的商机。从那时起，中药的年出口额已经从不到200万元（293000美元）增长到2000多万元。
很多来自非洲国家的公司积极主动地与太极集团联系，寻求达成向非洲引进中药的合作。
“中暑及其他如胃部不适的症状，在非洲十分常见，他们相信可以缓解这些症状的中药在非洲一定会大受欢迎，”王涛说道。
太极集团的重点品种，“藿香正气液”是一款口服液体药，用于治疗因夏季暑湿引起的多种不适，如急性头痛、呕吐、腹泻和腹痛等。藿香正气液现已注册并出口到泰国和马来等五个东南亚国家。
该品种即将进入另外七个国家，包括菲律宾、印度和巴基斯坦等国。
印尼天一保健公司（PT.Sky One Health.）的创始人Victor Liew表示，在东南亚这个传统的中药市场，人们对于中药的需求远未得到满足。该公司从事进口和销售中国专利药物的业务。Liew说：“因为东南亚市场对于中药的需求巨大，公司的收入也不断攀升，”但他拒绝透露公司的年收入与增长率。
天一公司在印尼代理了30多个中国专利药品，这些药品都是从中国大型制药公司进口的，包括修正制药集团、太极集团和葵花制药集团。此外，还有十多种药品处于注册进程。Liew说，公司自2010年成立以来，从未出现库存过剩问题，在2017年，该公司为进口中国专利药物向中国医药企业支付共计2000万美元的货款。
天一公司面向的客户是来自印尼各地的药房，公司还通过50多个网上购物平台销售药物。Liew说，最受欢迎的品种包括增强免疫力、减轻如胃病等疾病和缓解热带地区常见中暑症状的药物，或者能改善睡眠质量。
自古以来，中国移民及其后裔就有助于中医的推广。因此，许多当地人相信中医药，并且认为较之西医，古方中的治疗方法副作用更少。Liew这样说到。这个地区有许多中医从业者，而且进口的中成药特别受欢迎，因为这种药物是根据流传已久且经广泛使用的处方进行生产的，疗效显著。
Liew还说，由于无法获得药物的配方和原材料，所以很难在当地生产这些药物，这也促进了进口的中国专利药物受到群众的一致欢迎。
然而，尽管海外消费者对中药的兴趣越发浓厚，但中国制药公司生产的众多中成药中目前仅有三个品种在欧盟被纳入药品范畴。
在美国，尽管目前有十几种中成药正在进行临床试验，但以药品名义成功注册的中成药仍未实现0的突破，商会中医部主任于志斌说到。
在含提取物和原料在内的中药出口项目中，2017年中国专利药品的出口呈现最强反弹，同比2016年增长11.03%。
2017年，中药提取物出口同比增长4.33%。提取物通常用作化妆品和食品补充剂的成分，通常在中药出口的占比最大。
TCM exports up as local firms ride B&R Initiative
By Liu Zhihua | China Daily | Updated: 2018-08-27 10:57
Staff at a testing center for traditional Chinese medicines or TCM prepare samples in Bozhou, Anhui province. [Photo by Liu Qinli / For China Daily]
Traditional Chinese medicine or TCM exports are rising on the back of resilient demand from traditional markets and as the Belt and Road Initiative stimulates new demand in participating countries and regions.
China exported 358,000 tons of TCM in the form of patented drugs, extracts, and raw materials in 2017, up 0.7 percent year-on-year. Export value was $3.6 billion, up 2.1 percent, according to the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicine and Health Products.
"Southeast Asian countries have a tradition of using TCM, and international demand is rising driven by the Belt and Road Initiative," said Yu Zhibin, director of the TCM department at the chamber.
Agreed Wang Tao, director of the overseas business unit of China's leading pharmaceutical Taiji Group. "As the Chinese economy grows fast and has a stronger presence in the world, Chinese brands are enjoying more recognition worldwide.
"The Belt and Road Initiative especially helps promote TCM, as communication between China and other areas produces greater understanding of China and its culture."
Taiji Group accelerated its global expansion in 2015 with the establishment of an overseas business unit. It has been eyeing the increasing popularity of TCM in foreign countries and related business opportunities presented by the Belt and Road Initiative.
Since then, the annual export value of its TCM medicines has increased from less than 2 million yuan ($293,000) to more than 20 million yuan.
Quite a few companies from African countries have contacted Taiji Group proactively, seeking partnership to import Chinese medicines into Africa.
"Heatstroke and other symptoms such as gastric discomforts are quite common in Africa, and they believe Chinese medicines that can relieve such ailments will be very popular there," Wang said.
Taiji Group's signature product, Huoxiang Zhengqi Liquid, an oral liquid medicine to treat symptoms caused by summertime heat and dampness, such as acute headache, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain, has been registered and exported to five Southeast Asian countries, including Thailand and Malaysia.
The drug is about to enter seven more countries, including the Philippines, India and Pakistan.
In Southeast Asia, a traditional market for TCM, the demand is far from being met, according to Victor Liew, founder of PT.Sky One Healthcare in Indonesia, a company that imports and sells Chinese patented medicines.
"The market demand for TCM is surprisingly huge in Southeast Asia, and the company's revenue is ever-growing," Liew said, declining to reveal annual revenue and growth rate of the company.
PT.Sky represents more than 30 titles of Chinese patented medicines in Indonesia, which are imported from large-sized Chinese pharmaceutical companies, including Xiuzheng Pharmaceutical Group, Taiji Group, and Sunflower Pharmaceutical Group Co, with more than a dozen titles undergoing drug registration process in the country.
The company has never had any overstock problem since it was established in 2010, and in 2017, it paid $20 million to Chinese pharmaceuticals for importing Chinese patented medicines, Liew said.
Its clients are pharmacies from across Indonesia, and it also sells the medicines through more than 50 online shopping platforms.
Most popular titles include immunity-boosting medicine, drugs that mitigate diseases and relieve symptoms common in tropical regions, such as heatstroke and gastric ailments, or that can improve sleep, according to Liew.
Chinese immigrants and their descendants have helped popularize TCM in the region since ancient times, and as a result, many locals believe in TCM, and regard the ancient practice as having fewer side-effects than Western medicine, Liew said.
There are many TCM practitioners in the area, and imported Chinese patented medicines are particularly popular, because such medicines are manufactured based on time-honored prescriptions that have proved to be very effective, Liew said.
The difficulty in manufacturing such medicines locally due to restrained access to medical formulas and materials, also contributes to the popularity of imported Chinese patented medicines, Liew said.
However, despite overseas consumers' increasing passion for TCM, only three titles of Chinese patented medicines manufactured by Chinese pharmaceutical companies have been recognized as drugs in the European Union.
In the United States, the corresponding number is zero, although a dozen TCM drugs are undergoing clinical trials, according to Yu, TCM department director with the industry chamber.
Among main TCM export items, including extracts and raw materials, Chinese patented medicine exports delivered the strongest rebound in 2017, increasing 11.03 percent in value from 2016.
Exports of TCM extracts swelled 4.33 percent year-on-year by value in 2017.
Extracts, often used as ingredients to make cosmetics and food supplements, usually take up the largest portion of TCM exports.