(Yicai Global) June 28 -- Pientzehuang Pharmaceutical’s namesake herbal tablets, a popular treatment for hangovers and liver conditions, are selling for over twice the market price as an acute shortage is made worse by China’s liquor makers buying up as much as they can, Yicai Global has learned.

Pien Tze Huang tablets normally retail for CNY590 (USD91) a three-gram pill, but now they are selling for around CNY1,100 (USD170) each on some e-commerce platforms. Dealers in China's most popular rice wine brand, Moutai, are among the speculators, as the pills are closely tied with the social status of drinking the fiery alcohol, and many distillers have invested in ‘experience’ stores that sell the tablets, an industry insider told Yicai Global.

Pian Tze Huang is a drug made from Moschus, a rare raw material made from the glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer. A recent sharp hike in the price of Moschus, due to the pandemic, is one of the reasons behind the shortage of Pien Tze Huang, The People’s Daily’s Health Times reported on June 25.

“The efficacy of natural and artificial musk is very different. Natural musk is in short supply and is mainly sold in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and southwestern Yunnan province,” a herbal doctor said, adding that it is currently selling for around CNY400 per gram. In 2005, the Chinese government permitted the use of natural musk in Pien Tze Huang and a few other traditional medicines to help protect the wild musk deer.

Zhangzhou, southeastern Fujian province-based Pientzehuang’s stock price [SHA:600436] was trading up 0.69 percent today at CNY449.45 (USD69.56).

Editor: Kim Taylor