I don’t know when it started, a strong “return to nature” wind blows the tide of natural plant essential oils, making people’s lives more and more “fragrant”: more and more roses are added to commonly used skin care products. Essential oils, lavender essential oils, neroli essential oils, etc., more and more common in the incense burner, the jasmine, silk cypress, sandalwood, and aromatherapy treatment of mental illness...

“This is the aroma industry that is booming.” Li Guangwu, director of the Institute of Neurobiology at Anhui Medical University, who has been engaged in aromatic research for many years, has painted a long and wonderful picture of the industry: from aromatic planting to sightseeing and tourism. Catering, then extracting and processing into essential oils for medical, beauty, health care, psychotherapy, etc., thereby driving an industrial chain, will form a huge job market, training the market, and even produce some emerging industries.

According to the report, China's aromatic industry is still far from forming an industrial chain. Although China's natural oil and fragrance production accounts for one-third of the world's production, the consumption ratio is only less than one percent, and the sales profit is even less.

Aroma industry market space is huge

What restricts the development of China's aromatic industry?

What is essential oil? Fashionista will tell you that essential oils are aromatic molecules extracted from plants and can be used in medical, health care, and beauty.

Systematic research on modern aromatherapy began in Europe in the last century. After nearly 100 years of development, in the developed countries of Europe and America, the production and application of plant essential oils has formed a complete discipline.

Although essential oils do not originate in China, the history of applying the essential oil of our country, vanilla, has a long history. There are 365 kinds of drugs recorded in Shennong Bencao, of which 252 are aromatic plants. In the "Compendium of Materia Medica" by Li Shizhen of the Ming Dynasty, there was an album "Aroma", which systematically described the source, processing and application of various herbs.

Due to its vast territory, diverse climate and the spread of traditional Chinese medicine, the cultivation of vanilla in China is not only diverse but also wide-ranging. According to incomplete statistics, at present, there are more than 60 kinds of spices and plant species that have been developed and utilized in China. Among them, there are more than 100 kinds of natural flavors for mass production, and the output accounts for about one-third of the world. The traditional export of star anise oil accounts for 80% of the world's total production. China's cinnamon oil production accounts for 90% of the world's total production. In addition, China's mint, Litsea cubeba, spearmint, jasmine, sweet-scented osmanthus, and eucalyptus Lavender, etc. are all products that have a large export volume in the world spice market. At present, the perfume products produced in China have been exported to 122 countries and regions, and it is a veritable raw material country.

However, compared with the research and development of essential oils in Europe for hundreds of years, there is still a great distance between the popularization and use of essential oils in China. According to statistics, the consumption of plant essential oils in China is less than 1% of the consumption in the international market.

Work hard on high-end product development

But even this 1% is not a small number. According to reports, the annual sales of China's aromatic health care industry has reached tens of billions of yuan and has grown at an annual rate of 20% to 30%. According to industry insiders, if the per capita consumption of China's aromatic industry reaches one-tenth of that of Australia, China's aroma industry market will reach 700 billion to 800 billion yuan. Not only that, the aroma industry is truly a low-carbon, high-tech, pollution-free industry. As Professor Yao Lei of Shanghai Jiaotong University said: the aromatic distilled water produced as a by-product from the extraction of essential oils can be used as a base water for perfumes, lotions and toners; the remaining decoction and residue can be used as biological pesticides and Animal feed; even the aromas that bloom in the herb garden can also drive away pests for surrounding crops. As for the economic benefits, Yao Lei calculated an account: If you simply extract essential oils and flowers, the net profit per acre is 14,000 yuan; if the oil is further developed for medicinal and health care products, the income per mu is as high as 34,000 yuan.

How can China's aromatic industry seize the huge market space? Li Guangwu, director of the Institute of Neurobiology, Anhui Medical University, who was named "the top ten people in China's first aromatic industry in 2009", said in an interview: "The high-end of the aromatic industry chain It is medical care, high value-added is also in medical care, not working on high-end products, and will only give high profits.” It is understood that due to the low overall production level, the amount of direct use of Chinese essential oils for direct export is very small. Raw materials are the mainstay. Some reports show that China's natural essential oils and spices production is about one-third of the world's, most of which are exported to foreign countries, but the export value is only 8% to 11% of the international market. Japan and Western Europe imported a large amount of primary raw materials from China, and processed them with their technological advantages. After that, they exported medicines, high-grade beauty skin care products and health care products to the rest of the world, and the added value increased greatly.

Li Guangwu also brought a good news to everyone: An aromatic medicine for improving memory and preventing Alzheimer's disease has been granted a national patent by the Institute of Neurobiology of Anhui Medical University. What is more gratifying is that this patent application has been obtained at least at home and abroad. More than three research institutions have confirmed this effect. This patent is a new type of olfactory pathway for the treatment of senile dementia, and it is easy to industrialize: it can be made into a health food by aromatherapy of aromatic essential oils. It can be used as a food additive, and can be made into a spray or an aerosol. Alzheimer's disease and drugs that improve adolescents' learning and memory function.

Explore the new road of characteristic aromatic industry

Market participants believe: "We must do branding and make big brands." The owner of the company who has been managing cosmetics online for many years told reporters that in recent years, essential oil skin care products are getting better and better, but only imported big brands can win buyers' favor. With technology as the support, bigger and stronger national brands, this is the consensus of the domestic aromatic industry. The first 2009 China Aroma Industry “Top Ten People” and “Top Ten Brands” selection activities initiated by the National Aroma Health Professional Committee have just come to an end. Guangdong Yihai Spices, Anhui Fengle Spices, Xinjiang Ipar Khan Domestic brands are on the list and will receive relevant support in technology and policy. It is understood that technology and brand have also begun to take the joint road. The Institute of Neurobiology, led by Li Guangwu, has already cooperated with Anhui Fengle Perfume Co., Ltd., one of the “Top Ten Brands”, to explore new technology patents. The industrialization of products.

Today, aromatic products have penetrated into every aspect of people's lives and become an inseparable part of everyday life. But the more popular the market, the more prominent the regulatory issues. Song Wei, director of the National Aroma Health Professional Committee, announced: "We are ready to use our five-year time to integrate China's aromatic industry with the international market, integrate, standardize and improve the operational service level of the aromatic industry, and explore the healthy development model of the aromatic industry."

The Aroma Health Professional Committee, established by the National Hi-Tech Health Industry Working Committee in 2005, has united a group of domestic and foreign scientific research institutions that have been engaged in aromatic research for many years. They are engaged in aromatic research, aromatic education, aromatic plants, aromatic formulas, and aromatics. Well-known experts in the fields of enterprise management, planning and formulating the short-term and long-term development goals of China's aromatic health care industry, trying to grasp the development trend of the aromatic health care industry and the relevant national policy orientation and strengthen the industry by means of “government behavior promotion and market behavior implementation”. Cohesion.

The first work of the first five-year plan formulated by the Aroma Commission is to start from the source of the industry – education and training. Currently, it has signed a joint international aromatherapy therapist’s skills certification with the International Society of Aromatherapy Therapists. The long-term cooperation agreement on education and training combines traditional Chinese medicine theory with international aromatic natural therapy to explore a new road of aromatic industry with Chinese characteristics.

In addition, in order to greatly improve the management level of China's aromatic health care industry, the national aroma health industry database will be established in the next two years, the national standards for Chinese aromatic health products will be formulated, and professional standards and professional qualification access systems will be established. Introduce international advanced processing technology and processing equipment, establish a five-in-one supervision and inspection management system from production, processing, circulation, terminal consumption to import and export, and timely standardize and rectify the market by relevant UN ministries.

At the same time, it launched a high-tech agricultural development project of three-dimensional planting of aromatic plants and one-stop construction of the industry. It integrates three-dimensional planting, extraction processing, product deep processing, tourism, SPA conditioning and health care, education and training, and product export seven-in-one, unified by aromatic plant experts. The experts who guide planting and aromatic plant extracts personally guide the extraction technology, and all products are uniformly underwritten by the designated institutions. The purpose is to lay a solid foundation for the comprehensive development of aromatic plants all over the country. The first demonstration projects have been settled in Daxing District, Pinggu District of Beijing and Lushan County of Henan Province.

It may not be long before we can really enter the beautiful Chinese aroma industry chain depicted by Li Guangwu, and really feel the industrial benefits brought by the warm spring sun and the birds and flowers.