Tong Ren Tang Extending the Brand-name Worldwide — Interview
February 16, 2008 – 12:19 pm
An Interview with Ding Yongling, Manager of the Beijing Tong Ren Tang Technologies Co., Ltd., Import and Export Company By:Sun Li
Editor’s Note: Beijing Tong Ren Tang is China’s leading producer of traditional Chinese medicine, and has a history of over 330 years. After China’s entry into the WTO, when foreign-made homeopathic medicine enters the Chinese market, how will Tong Ren Tang go about exploring and eventually expanding the overseas market? China Today interviewed Ding Yongling, manager of the Beijing Tong Ren Tang Technologies Co., Ltd., Import and Export Company.
Manager Ding, a woman in her early 30s, is energetic and full of vigor. Last year she led the company in earning US $10 million in exports.
Reporter: Traditional medicine makers face unprecedented risks in their expansion to the overseas market. The slightest oversight could result in complete failure. According to statistics, since 2001, China’s imports and exports of medical apparatus and instruments, proprietary medicine, and Western medicine have been in a state of imbalance, with exports of proprietary medicine and plant extracts accounting for only 35.7 percent of total exports of traditional Chinese medicinal materials. At present, they occupy less than 3 percent of the world total, which shows how difficult it is for China’s traditional medicine to participate in the international market. What is the situation for Tong Ren Tang?
Ding Yongling: For more than 300 years, Tong Ren Tang has followed the principle “Making the best medicine, irrespective of the cost of materials and the time it may take.” The ten famous-brand medicines made by Tong Ren Tang, such as Niuhuang Qingxin Pills, Da Huoluo Dan, Baifeng Pills and Angong Niuhuang Pills, enjoy high prestige overseas, particularly in Southeast Asia. At present, Tong Ren Tang produces more than 800 kinds of proprietary medicines in 24 dosage forms, as well as 3,000 kinds of medicinal materials. Among them, 47 kinds have been named excellent products by the state, ministry and municipality. In recent years, Tong Ren Tang’s exports have increased by a big margin, and its foreign exchange earnings increased from US $1.86 million in 1993 to US $10 million in 2001.
Tong Ren Tang now has five branch drugstores in Hong Kong, one in Britain and one in Thailand, and it has joint ventures in the United States, Australia and Malaysia. We will shortly expand their operation from trading to production localization.
Reporter: I have heard that the Tong Ren Tang drugstore in London’s Chinatown is very well patronized by people from all areas of society, and that it operates like domestic drugstores, with physicians actually sitting in the shop.
Ding Yongling: This is the effect of our brand name. The Tong Ren Tang brand is an intangible asset, characterized by its technical refinement and uniqueness. All the technicians that work at joint ventures have been carefully selected by Beijing Tong Ren Tang, and we have also sent well-known physicians from Beijing to these overseas drugstores to see patients and prescribe medicine.
In March 2001 we established the Beijing Tong Ren Tang (Thailand) Co., Ltd.
In Thailand, where most people subscribe to traditional Chinese medicine, and have heard of Tong Ren Tang, this drugstore is like a Chinese honey pot for Thai bees. The Thai Ministry of Health has made the Beijing Tong Ren Tang (Thailand) Co., Ltd. an example for others to follow.
In March 2001, based on the issue of A-shares on the domestic stock market, the Beijing Tong Ren Tang Technologies Co., Ltd., was established. In October the same year, it was listed in the Hong Kong Growth and Enterprise Market, and made an impressive performance. It stands out on Hong Kong’s stock market.
Reporter: Does constant adjustment of standards for entry by various countries cause problems of access to the overseas market for traditional Chinese medicine?
Ding Yongling: Yes, access has been the largest obstacle, particularly after China’s entry into the WTO, with the lowering of the trade barrier and strengthening of the technical barrier. At present, the requirements regarding prohibited ingredients in traditional Chinese medicine, and heavy metal and pesticide residue content, are becoming stricter. In the face of this stark situation, we have seriously studied access standards for traditional Chinese medicine to various importing countries, eradicated and substituted prohibited components, and improved the forms of dosage and packing of our products. Meanwhile, we have built our own bases for cultivation of medicinal plants, where strict control of heavy metal and pesticide residue content is exercised.
Reporter: China’s entry into the WTO brings up the key issues of the inevitable inflow of foreign products, and consequently necessary outflow of Chinese goods. It appears that Tong Ren Tang is fully prepared to explore the overseas market. What strategies will Tong Ren Tang adopt?
Ding Yongling: In the past we raised a slogan, “Where there are Chinese, there is Tong Ren Tang.” Now we have a new slogan, “We will go any place where there are foreigners.” We will accelerate our pace in entering the overseas market, and intend to occupy a dominant place in the European and American markets, and serve more patients. Our key task for 2002 is to accelerate the modernization and internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine, so as to approach the international mainstream market. By 2005, we will have established 30 joint ventures, based on which, 100 drugstores in various forms of cooperation will be opened, one of which will be in Seoul, the Republic of Korea, in time for the World Cup. Besides international cooperation in trade, we also intend to cooperate within the manufacturing sector, in such areas as packing, taking advantage of local conditions. Meanwhile, we will accelerate the pace of high-tech product development so as to gain a firm foothold within the international market. Our aim is to extend the reputation of the Tong Ren Tang brand worldwide.
Tags: Brand, Interview, Tongrentang, Worldwide
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