In 2023, there were 38 enterprises above the designated size in the TCM industrial chain in Huaihua City, with a total output value of RMB21.1 billion.
Huaihua is home to 2,340 kinds of Chinese medicinal materials, with a total planting area of 1,363,000 mu (90,866.67 hectares). The city has 3,716 species of plants that belong to more than 900 genera of 225 families. It has 32 plants under special state protection, including five under first class protection and 27 under second class protection. The types of medicinal plants in Huaihua account for 64.95% of the province’s total. Among the 245 types of Chinese medicinal materials under key investigation in the census conducted in Hunan Province, Huaihua has 171 types or about 70%. Huaihua has 61 leading agricultural industrialization enterprises at or above the municipal level specializing in Chinese medicinal materials, including two at the national level, six at the provincial level, and 53 at the municipal level. The city has been approved as a demonstration area for national comprehensive TCM reform in Hunan Province. Xinhuang County, Yuanling County, Hongjiang City, Xupu County, Tongdao County and Jingzhou County are reputed as hometown of sealwort, Phellodendron, rhizoma gastrodiae, Lonicerae flos, uncaria and Poria cocos, respectively. Among them, sealwort, rhizoma gastrodiae and Lonicerae flos are recognized as characteristic agricultural products in China. Busky Pharmaceutical has been selected as a leading enterprise in Hunan’s advantageous and characteristic industry with a scale of over RMB100 billion. Hunan Bestcome Traditional Medicine Co., Ltd. has been selected as the chairman unit of the Sealwort Specialized Committee of the National Food & Medicine Homology Industry Technological Innovation Alliance.
Within the territory of Huaihua, Xupu County is the place of origin and main production area of Lonicerae flos in China; Jingzhou County is the largest distribution and trading center of Poria cocos in China, with an annual distribution volume of more than 80,000 tons (accounting for more than two-thirds of the country’s total) and an annual transaction volume of over RMB2 billion; Xinhuang County, hometown of gallnut honey, is becoming the trading and distribution center of sealwort for Hunan, Chongqing, Guizhou and Sichuan, whose annual processing and transaction volume accounts for one-sixth of the country’s total. The city as a whole produces 11,300 tons of Lonicerae flos per annum, with an output value of RMB580 million. Xinhuang’s borneol and Xuefeng Mountain’s rhizoma gastrodiae enjoy good reputation in the country; Poria cocos of Jingzhou, rhizoma gastrodiae and sealwort of Qianyang, Chinese wax of Zhijiang, Yao tea of Xupu, borneol of Xinhuang, Houttuynia cordata of Xuefeng Mountain and Kadsura coccinea of Tongdao are listed as national geographical indication products. Poria cocos, sealwort, Lonicerae flos, lily, radix polygonati officinalis and other geo-authentic Chinese medicinal materials produced in Huaihua are recognized as the nine kinds of Hunan branded medicinal materials. Currently, there are nearly 100,000 practitioners in the TCM and health industry.
Key enterprises: Zhengqing Pharmaceutical, Busky Pharmaceutical, Bestcome Traditional Medicine, Zhenghao Pharmaceutical, Linquan Pharmaceutical, Hongyuan Pharmaceutical, Aokang Technology, Wenli Biological, and Longcheng Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Development priorities: Branded medicinal materials such as caulis sinomenii, Poria cocos, sealwort, Lonicerae flos and rehizoma gastrodiae; traditional Chinese patent medicine, new types of TCM decoction pieces, Chinese herba preparations, functional health products, and food that doubles as medicine; development and production of classic TCM prescriptions and innovative Chinese medicine.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6)
(1) Poria cocos (2) Sealwort (3) Longya lily (4) Lonicerae flos (5) Caulis sinomenii (6)Rhizoma gastrodiae
（Translated by Professor Yu Jie）