China Business

Vision for China Business

The objective of the China business is to support the development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry and to contribute to the health of the people of China by utilizing the quality, technologies, and skills that the Tsumura Group has nurtured over the years through our experience in cultivating raw material crude drugs and manufacturing Kampo formulations, and bringing those together with the customer base and the online medical platform owned by the Ping An Insurance (Group) Company of China.
At each stage of the Long-Term Management Vision, we　will promote investment in the China business and foundation building, aiming to raise the ratio of consolidated net sales from the China business to 50% or higher by becoming a corporate Group that leads the development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry. We will develop the health & medicine business, which covers the areas of healthcare, prevention, and pre-symptomatic disease, and the traditional Chinese medicine/ medicinal products business, which covers the areas of treatment and pre-symptomatic disease through the three platforms of crude drugs, formulation, and research.

Vision for the China business described in the Long-Term Management Vision 2031

• Establish the brand as a traditional Chinese medicinal products company; establish a crude drugs/drug pieces business to lead the development of the industry
• Expand the share of China business sales on a consolidated basis to at least 50%

Traditional Chinese medicine market

In the Outline of the Healthy China 2030 Plan, importance is placed on both modern medicine and Chinese medicine. The plan sets forth policies for promoting the standardization and scale-up of production of traditional Chinese medicine while also implementing measures on theoretical research and drug development. Against this background, the traditional Chinese medicine market grew 5.6% year on year to 13.9 trillion yen (RMB 730.4 billion).

• Calculated at 1 RMB = 19.05 JPY (as of the end of December 2022); Data from National Bureau of Statistics of China, Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology

Platforms of the China business

Formulation platform

The formulation platform is engaged in procuring raw material crude drugs from the crude drug platform, then manufacturing and selling traditional Chinese medicinal products.
We are targeting classical prescriptions from among the wide range of traditional Chinese medicinal products, and are aiming to contribute to the health and healthcare of the people of China by producing and distributing formulations that are safe, consistent, and effective.
Classical prescriptions are a type of traditional Chinese medicinal product, and the formulas are based on ancient medical texts in China. Many of these products are similar to Japanese Kampo formulations. In recent years, the Chinese government has given prominence to classical prescriptions in order to encourage the development of the traditional Chinese medicine industry, and has been issuing various preferential policies for them.

Crude drug platform

The crude drug platform serves the functions of cultivation, procurement, sorting, processing, and storage of raw material crude drugs used in the Japan business and the China business. It also provides the function of manufacturing and selling raw material crude drugs, drug pieces, and Yakushokudogen products in China.
The raw material crude drugs are exported as raw material for the Kampo formulations in our domestic business. We are also working to develop new external distribution channels, such as to traditional Chinese medicinal products manufacturers, by demonstrating our ability to keep the formulation platforms supplied as well as emphasizing the superior quality of our products.
We are also working to expand hospital and online sales channels of drug pieces (chopped crude drugs), which are raw material crude drugs that have been processed to give added value.
For Yakushokudogen products, we are striving to build new marketing channels and establish brands by making comprehensive use of social media, e-commerce, live commerce, and other channels.

Research platform

The research platform is responsible for applying the quality management techniques and know-how in evidence building that we have nurtured through business in Japan in order to develop the China business. This platform serves the role of creating a quality standard for the entire supply chain that covers the seedlings of crude drugs to the final finished product, while also engaging in quality research for crude drugs and for traditional Chinese medicinal products.