Hokkaido is attracting growing interest as a promising site of medicinal plant production, as the burgeoning demand in China creates an alluring business opportunity.
In recent years, prices of plants used to make Chinese herbal medicines have surged. In addition to increased demand in the Western world, as well as Japan, growing consumption in China due to continued economic growth and population expansion has boosted prices, according to Masatomo Tanaka, chief of the Hokkaido Bureau of Economy, Trade and Industry's Bio-industry Division. The bureau is a branch of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
In 2009, Hokkaido was the second-largest production region for medicinal plants in Japan in terms of cultivation area size, with 212 hectares, and the fifth-biggest in terms of production volume at 698 tons, according to the Japan Specialty Agriculture Products Association.