China has become the world's second largest producer of raw medicine, with an annual output of some 800,000 tones. However, the industry's competitiveness remains weak.  

At the ongoing 2004 world pharmaceutical raw materials exhibition in Shanghai, it is reported that China exported some 3.7 billion US$ worth of raw medicine last year.

However, the industry's competitiveness remains weak.

Among the 6,700 pharmaceutical enterprises in the country, over 75 percent are small in size and less than 15 percent have passed the Good Manufacturing Practice, or GMP, an internationally recognized standard. 

(CRI June 16, 2004)