Traditional remedies cool China's vitamin fever

Shanghai

CHINA's much-hyped market for vitamins and supplements is facing a steep challenge from traditional remedies from ginseng to deer antler, even as the sector's rise fuels billion-dollar deals and share price surges.

The vitamins market is set to expand 5 per cent a year to US$20 billion in 2019, half its pace of growth since 2009. It is being outstripped by a traditional medicine business that could be worth US$40 billion by then - and is growing twice as fast.