Bozhou Investigates Raw Aconite Sold as Health Product; Herbal Market Sales 56 Billion RMB

On July 26, 2026, a report revealed that consumers had complained about many online vendors promoting the health benefits of drinking water boiled with sliced aconite, a traditional Chinese medicinal herb, and selling raw aconite freely. Raw aconite is a toxic herb, and its production and use are strictly regulated by the state; improper use can cause poisoning or death. Its purchase, processing, and sale are also tightly controlled. According to the report, raw aconite was priced at 40 to 80 RMB per jin depending on the degree of processing. Subsequently, the city of Bozhou in Anhui province set up an investigation team.

In Jiangyou, Sichuan, aconite is a crop. Jiangyou is a traditional genuine aconite-producing area, recognized as a national geographical indication product and a national honest brand for Chinese herbal decoction pieces. When it enters the herbal market, aconite becomes a niche category with low trading volume and scattered demand. The Bozhou herbal market is one of the world's largest specialized markets for Chinese medicinal herbs. Its annual sales have grown from about 30 billion RMB a decade ago to 56 billion RMB in 2023. The market hosts more than 2,000 pharmaceutical enterprises, over 8,000 stalls, and nearly 20,000 tenant traders. More than 2,800 varieties of herbs are traded daily, with an average daily footfall of about 60,000 people. Its annual transaction volume accounts for nearly one-third of the total for similar markets nationwide.

Around 2023, Chinese medicinal herbs experienced a sharp price fluctuation. The price of suanzaoren (sour jujube seed) rose from about 200 RMB per kg around 2020 to nearly 1,000 RMB per kg in 2023, before quickly falling to 520 RMB per kg by July 2024. During the same period, more than 60 herbal varieties (including different specifications of the same variety) saw annual price increases exceeding 100%. On July 24, 2024, the Bozhou Herbal Association issued a proposal against price gouging, noting that the price fluctuations of some herbs had severely exceeded historical levels. By 2026, prices had cooled significantly. According to monitoring by Yaotong Net, the Bozhou herbal price index for the fifth period of April 2026 stood at 1,293.28 points, down 0.17% from the previous period. Among the 12 category indices, four rose, four fell, and four remained flat.

According to the report, some sellers did not have fixed stalls and solicited business under the guise of "herbal purchasing agents" or "wholesale market errand runners," delivering goods directly to customers without completing transactions at the stall. In the sales pitch presented in the report, the end point had become a health pot at home: slicing, boiling in water, and consuming. In the past, the end users of toxic herbs were pharmacies, hospitals, or qualified decoction piece enterprises, and the users were trained. In the report, the end-use method had changed.