China to start equity trading of wild ginseng

China's only online equity exchange portal, Jinmajia (jinmajia.com), will soon launch the trading of wild ginseng, the company said Wednesday.

Fan Dongping, president of Beijing Jinmajia Equity Exchange Online Service Inc., said that the trading may start in March or April, and the benchmark subscription price is likely to be set at around 10,000 yuan (1,588 U.S. dollars).

He said that ginseng plants to be subscribed for trading are those that have been grown by Bishui Forestry Co. in the mountains of northeast China's Jilin province for more than five years.

According to the Chinese national standard for regulating ginseng quality, those grown in natural forests for several years can be regarded as wild ginseng.

The forestry company in Jilin has planted 70 million such wild ginseng plants in a natural environment.

Fan said subscribers can either sell the equity of the ginseng products via the website, or pay an annual fee of 50 yuan to Jinmajia to keep the equity for added value.

Jinmajia is jointly funded by over 20 equity exchange firms, including China Beijing Equity Exchange and Guangzhou Enterprises Mergers and Acquisitions Services.

Fan said wild ginseng has great potential to increase in market value, adding that the older the ginseng grows, the more valuable it becomes.

He said that the equity trading will help build up the domestic brand of high-quality wild ginseng and increase its price.

China annually produces 60 percent to 70 percent of the world's ginseng products on average and exports 70 percent to 80 percent of its annual production. However, its annual output value on the products accounts only less than 4 percent of the world's total, as the exports are priced very low, according to the Beijing-based Guangming Daily.

Dubbed the "King of Herbs" in China, ginseng has been used as a traditional medicine and health care product for more than 4,000 years.