May 14, 2007

Both volume and prices up for China's Vitamin C exports

Export prices of Vitamin C from China's Hebei province have trended downwards since 2004, at one time prices reached US$ 3.3 per kilogramme in Q1, 2006.

Prices are making a recovery this year however, as both volumes exported and prices increased.

According to statistics from China Customs, Vitamin C exports have made a slight recovery in the first quarter of this year, with prices reaching US$3.4 per kilogramme. 
 

China is the world's largest Vitamin C producer, accounting for more than 70 percent of global production. Hebei Province has become a major Vitamin C producing base in China, thanks to major producers like Huayao Pharmaceutical Group's Welcome Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd and Shijiazhang Pharmaceutical Group's Weisheng Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

According to market analysts, the rise in Vitamin C prices was the result of the strengthening Chinese currency. As the RMB has strengthened 6 percent against the US dollar since Beijing carried out currency reforms, prices of Vitamin C, which are US-dollar based, had to be raised.

In addition, several Vitamin C producers were slapped with an anti-trust lawsuit from the US. This and rising material costs have caused several Vitamin C producers in China to cease production, bringing about a balance in the supply-demand situation which served to prop up prices.