Guest guest Posted April 28, 2003 Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 Todd and All, In recent discussions with our agronomists and growers throughout China, we are learning that certain herbs are essentially not available for export. An example is Jin Yin Hua. In recent times the flowers have become no longer available and doctors have been switching to leaves. In their absence they've moved on to the stems. In their absence they moved on to related species. I have a formulae I'm supposed to fill that include among other things tonnage of Jin Yin Hua, Liang Qiao and Ban Lan Gen. We had these amounts loaded onto various containers coming our way, but Beijing stopped their departure. Our agronomist in Shandong Province has said that Beijing government officials have actually threatened him with imprisonment if he ships out those herbs. As Ken has pointed out there is a complete state of hysteria going on. Entire hospital staffs from attending doctors on down to medical students are getting dosed by various formulas to such an extent that some herbs have been removed from the marketplace and sequestered at hospital sites. I don't quite have a clear picture of what this must look like on the ground, but what ever Ken is seeing in Beijing is apparently happening virtually everywhere. Apparently government officials have felt stung by world media reports that they've mishandled the SARS epidemic, and now heads are rolling. Various kinds of over-reactions appear to be proceeding with full force. I'm wondering, Ken, if you know people in the hospital setting that have a picture of what's going on. Perhaps you know people in Changdu as well since you spent so much time there. I'm sorry to report the absence of certain herbs, and I'm hoping that this scenario will be short-lived. However, I'm sensing that bureaucratic hysteria may be more challenging to re-balance that simple social hysteria. Emmanuel Segmen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 28, 2003 Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 , " Emmanuel Segmen " < susegmen@i...> wrote: > I have a formulae I'm supposed to fill that include among other things tonnage of Jin Yin Hua, Liang Qiao and Ban Lan Gen. We had these amounts loaded onto various containers coming our way, but Beijing stopped their departure. Our agronomist in Shandong Province has said that Beijing government officials have actually threatened him with imprisonment if he ships out those herbs. So intriguing. like a good movie plot with chinese herbs as the prized possession. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 28, 2003 Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 So intriguing. like a good movie plot with chinese herbs as the prized possession. I pretty much can't wait for this movie to be over. Having containers impounded in Chinese ports is more than a little annoying. Meanwhile, people might try conserving their stock of such herbs as jin yin hua, lian qiao, ban lan gen, etc. Emmanuel Segmen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 28, 2003 Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 Emmanuel, > I'm wondering, Ken, if you know people in the hospital setting that have a picture of what's going on. Perhaps you know people in Changdu as well since you spent so much time there. I know plenty of people in plenty of hospitals, but the problem with providing a clear picture of what's going on is that what's going on is in no way clear. The big, looming fear here is that the disease spreads to the countryside where nearly 90% of the Chinese population still resides and where public health facilities are essentially few and far between and public hygiene lags far behind levels in the rapidly developing coastal cities. The hospitals in Beijing are already taxed way beyond their capacities. All public buildings have been ordered closed. The authorities are trying desperately to limit the movement of human bodies, which is a more or less impossible task. From what I gather, the scene here is comparable to what existed in Hong Kong a month or more ago. I understand that people in Hong Kong have now gotten over the severe panic reaction and have realized that they've got to get on with their lives. I taped a show yesterday, and my message to viewers was calm down. Try to imagine 15 million people overwrought with anxiety about whether or not they are about to contract a potentially lethal disease. That's Beijing at the moment. What's going on in the hospitals is an intense condensation of that. I'll do what I can in the way of keeping you and others updated. Ken Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 28, 2003 Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 , " Emmanuel Segmen " < susegmen@i...> wrote: > > I pretty much can't wait for this movie to be over. Having containers impounded in Chinese ports is more than a little annoying. Emmanuel I did not mean to minimize any difficulty this might be causing you or your company. It is just quite interesting at this point in history to see trade in herbs affected by an epidemic. Anyway, the hysteria does seem to outweigh the real threat, in which case this may disappear as quickly as it appeared. Lets hope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 28, 2003 Report Share Posted April 28, 2003 I did not mean to minimize any difficulty this might be causing you or your company. It is just quite interesting at this point in history to see trade in herbs affected by an epidemic. Anyway, the hysteria does seem to outweigh the real threat, in which case this may disappear as quickly as it appeared. Lets hope.Todd Thank you. Absolutely no offense taken. :-) Indeed, I'm a bit frazzled by it all and appreciate your kind words. I've mainly reported to list in order to alert people to watch their stock of herbs. One thing I'll point out in addition is to recall what happened with Shan Zhu Yu and Huang Lian over recent years. Both have wildly escalated in price and then never really returned to normal. Some of this sort of cycling of prices will happen with the current herbal crisis, yet I'm hoping for a return to baseline by next year. Sorry also to focus on mere herb supplies amidst social chaos in China, but I'm kind of thinking that the lack of herbs down the road may also have some consequences. Emmanuel Segmen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted April 29, 2003 Report Share Posted April 29, 2003 , " Emmanuel Segmen " < susegmen@i...> wrote: > > Sorry also to focus on mere herb supplies amidst social chaos in China, but I'm kind of thinking that the lack of herbs down the road may also have some consequences. > > Emmanuel Segmen I really appreciate you alerting us to this potential shortage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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