China: Fermentation, Antibiotics And The Need To Modernize

As the Chinese marketplace moves towards the 21st century and an adoption of western industrial philosophy, there is a momentum to form transnational strategic alliances for access to the technologies of the more-developed world.

In no sector is this truer than that of the Chinese fermentation industry, defined as the collection of enterprises that produce and sell bulk fermentation products for health care, food, feed, industrial or other uses, note consultants Sino Info.

Today in China, the fermentation industry has a strong market orientation, with the level of government direction/involvement varying according to the product. Decisions on what products are to be promoted and in what amounts are often made at the local level, based on the special market conditions that exist in that area. However, some products, vitamin C and citric acid in particular, are being managed more by the state since they have a direct influence on the national economy (vitamin C was in 1994 the largest single US dollar-earning compound within the Chinese pharmaceutical industry, reporting export sales of $41 million).