Ginseng industry booms in Jilin

Jilin province, China’s leading production region for ginseng – the internationally renowned herb believed to restore and enhance wellbeing -- is determined to carry out its brand strategy to further develop the ginseng industry.

In 2019, the province’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs released its strategy, Opinions to Promote Ginseng Industry in a High-quality Way, according to which the output value of ginseng was expected to exceed 80 billion yuan ($11.63 billion) by 2020 and reach to 120 billion yuan by 2025.

In the same year, it is expected that the planting area that meets designated standards will account for 80 percent of the total amount and the output value of “Changbai Mountain Ginseng” will reach to 60 billion yuan.

Statistics showed that about 70 percent of ginseng in the world is produced in China and 85 percent in China is from Jilin. As the major production area for ginseng, Jilin province carried out a project to promote technologies for the development of the ginseng industry from June 2017 to June 2018.

The project was designed to deal with problems that hindered the development of the sector, such as the high production costs, low purchasing prices, a lack of leading enterprises and the misuse of pesticides.

Officials said the province will further implement the brand strategy by building up the brand “Changbai Mountain Ginseng”. The brand began being marketed after registration at the State Administration of Industry and Commerce in 2009. In 2012, the franchisor for the brand was established to recruit franchisees who could operate under the same management concept.

In 2017, “Changbai Mountain Ginseng” became a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization and was recognized as a “China Famous Brand”, a “Jilin Famous Brand” and a “Changchun Famous Brand”. More than 150 standard production facilities had been also set up by 2017, covering about 70 percent of ginseng growers in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces. To date, the 44 manufacturing enterprises under the brand of “Changbai Mountain Ginseng” can produce 150 kinds of ginseng products and annually process over 5,000 tons of raw ginseng. The brand value of “Changbai Mountain Ginseng” is currently estimated to be 19.05 billion yuan.

Officials said that through years of development, the popularity and influence of “Changbai Mountain Ginseng” keeps growing and more and more producers and investors are being attracted to engage in the ginseng industry.