As a major supplier of dried herbs and concentrated granules, we have had to impose maximum order quantities of one unit for a variety of herbal products. This is because the COVID-19 coronavirus has impacted Chinese medicine supply chains dramatically and demand from herbalists across Europe are rising daily.
Today, the total number of coronavirus cases is now at 80,735 in Mainland China and 111,354 across the globe. The pandemic has shaken the Chinese economy and many western countries are now feeling the ripple effects, with global markets plunging to an all-time-low since the 2008 global financial crisis.
China’s economy suffered throughout January and February as many workers were unable to return to work due to travel bans and workplace restrictions. As our products are primarily from China, we predicted that acupuncture and herbal suppliers, including us, will experience drastic stock shortages for many months to come.
Labour intensive industries including farms growing Chinese herbs are heavily disrupted.
Many individuals are now seeking preventative measures from complementary health therapists to protect themselves and their families from contracting the Coronavirus. Herbalists across Europe are experiencing an unprecedented demand for anti-viral and immune boosting herbal formulas, which is putting extra pressure on herbal medicine suppliers.
Usually, herbs take at least 2 months to harvest, dry and package, and another month is allocated for shipping from China. With the extra pressure of workforce shortages, we are expecting the time taken to import stock to double. We expect to receive stock at the end of May.
As far as economics go, when demand rises above supply levels, prices should rise. Our suppliers of dried herbs and concentrated granules have already increased our prices, as they not only supply us and the USA, but also hospitals across China. Many suppliers of Chinese herbs across Europe are already looking to increase prices.
Despite these cost increases, we believe that it is our duty to help as many people benefit from Chinese medicine as possible, so we have decided to freeze prices for as long as we can. Throughout Europe, Chinese herbal medicine is not provided in public healthcare institutions like the NHS, so the cost of herbs is always passed onto the patient. We want to ensure that herbal medicine is as accessible to those who need it throughout the course of this pandemic.
For any herbal products that we have less than 50 units in stock, we will be limiting customers to 1 per order. We believe this can help to curb stock shortages and it means that more people can benefit from herbal medicine. We recently imposed maximum order quantities to selected acupuncture needles.
If you have any questions about this article or our products, please feel free to get in touch by email info@phoenixmd.co.uk
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