Yaoxiang Tongsihai Archives has specialized expertise
Recently, in the production workshop of Anhui Fenghuang Traditional Chinese Medicine Pieces Co., Ltd., workers are sorting, cleaning, slicing, processing, drying, and packaging Chinese medicinal materials. After passing the supervision of Bozhou Customs under the jurisdiction of Hefei Customs, a batch of traditional Chinese medicinal materials such as Shengma, Fructus Aurantii, and Atractylodes macrocephala were sent to South Korea.
Bozhou, Anhui Province, is known as the "Capital of Chinese Medicine" and is the world's largest trading center for traditional Chinese medicine. It has formed an industrial trend of "thousands of pharmaceutical companies, 100000 pharmaceutical merchants, millions of pharmaceutical farmers, and a market worth billions". By 2025, the export value of traditional Chinese medicinal materials in Bozhou City will reach 700 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.8%, accounting for 10.6% of the total export value of traditional Chinese medicinal materials in China, and exported to more than 90 countries and regions. In the first two months of this year, the export value was 120 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 25.3%.
The export of traditional Chinese medicine cannot be separated from the solid support of customs archives work - from source tracing to compliant customs clearance, from risk warning to industrial empowerment. Customs archives play an important role in "preserving evidence, keeping history, providing guidance, and benefiting the people", paving the way for a safe, efficient, and smooth "golden passage".
Different countries and regions have varying requirements for pesticide residues, heavy metals, microbial limits, and traceability management of traditional Chinese medicinal materials, which are the threshold that enterprises must cross when going global. Bozhou Customs relies on the Research and Evaluation Base for Technical Trade Measures of Traditional Chinese Medicine to establish a "Technical Trade Measures Special Archive", systematically sorting out the regulatory instructions, warning notifications, return investigation records issued by major trading partners, as well as successful cases of responding to evaluations over the years.
Previously, when faced with new requirements, companies were often at a loss. Now we can quickly search for similar cases from the archives, refer to historical evaluation opinions and disposal experience, and quickly form analysis reports and response suggestions, "said Peng Qifeng from the Comprehensive Business Department of Bozhou Customs.
Through in-depth analysis of archive data, Bozhou Customs assesses risks in advance and guides enterprises to adjust planting and processing techniques in accordance with international standards, thereby improving product compliance from the source. In recent years, relying on archival research results, the agency has participated in official evaluations of regulations on traditional Chinese medicine in the European Union, South Korea, Vietnam, and other countries, effectively safeguarding the rights and interests of enterprises.
Quality is the lifeline and traceability is the hard support for the export of traditional Chinese medicine. Bozhou Customs uses archives as a starting point to guide enterprises in building a full chain traceability archive from fields to ports, so that every batch of exported medicinal materials has a complete "identity certificate". For authentic medicinal herbs such as Paeonia lactiflora, Platycodon grandiflorus, and Chrysanthemum morifolium in Bozhou, Bozhou Customs requires enterprises to record detailed information on planting bases, pesticide and fertilizer application records, production and processing process records, quality inspection reports, and other key data to ensure that "raw materials can be traced, processes can be traced, and risks can be controlled".
Under the guidance of the customs, Anhui Puren Traditional Chinese Medicine Pieces Co., Ltd. completed the registration of the EU TRACE system, ensuring a "zero breakthrough" in the export of animal derived Chinese medicinal materials from China to the EU.
In daily work, Bozhou Customs regards the possession of long-term and stable compliance records and standardized internal management system files as one of the criteria for including enterprises in the key cultivation targets of "Authorized Economic Operator" (AEO). Anhui Xiehe Cheng Pharmaceutical Pieces Co., Ltd. became an AEO enterprise in 2013 and has passed multiple reviews. In 2025, Bozhou Customs successfully implemented the first remote local inspection of exported Chinese medicinal materials in Anhui Province for the company, helping it enjoy the convenience of customs clearance.
In the archives room of Bozhou Customs, enterprise credit files, export product files, and problem handling files are carefully collected one by one. Through the correlation analysis of archives, this level provides a precise portrait of the enterprise, achieving a transformation from "waiting for the enterprise to seek help" to "delivering policies to the door". By analyzing export data archives, Bozhou Customs found that some small and medium-sized herbal medicine production enterprises are very eager to explore new markets, but they do not make sufficient use of free trade agreement policies such as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP). Therefore, they have targeted the export destination country tariff reduction list to help enterprises enjoy policy dividends.
Archives are the "quality certificate" for the export of traditional Chinese medicinal materials in Bozhou, the "wisdom package" for breaking international barriers, and the "solid backing" for the high-quality development of the industry. The relevant person in charge of Bozhou Customs stated that they will continue to deepen the full chain management of archive collection, management, storage, and utilization, allowing dormant data to speak and historical experience to shine, supporting Bozhou to continue expanding its brand influence as the "World Capital of Traditional Chinese Medicine".