The country's traditional Chinese medicine trading volume composes only three percent of the world herbal medicine trade, a newspaper reported Thursday.

The Beijing Morning Post quoted Ji Yecheng, a WTO expert, about the first national seminar on traditional Chinese medicine branding strategy.

Some 300 seminar representatives discussed China's role in herbal medicine trade. As originator of traditional Chinese medicine, China has been placed in an awkward position, by being such a minor player in the global herbal medicine trade.

Ji Yecheng looked at Japan as example, saying the traditional Chinese treatment for heart disease has been upgraded by the Japanese for the international market and is worth hundreds of millions of US dollars, with its own patent and trade mark registrations.

Ji Yecheng tried to teach the importance of having a branding strategy for the traditional Chinese medicine industry.

Another Chinese medicine that treats malaria, took several generations of Chinese scientists to develop and has now been registered by a foreign company using the Chinese description. They have now produced a trade volume of up to 300 million US dollars a year.

The newspaper reported that China has over 7000 pharmaceutical producers, but few with their own brands and intellectual property rights. What they do in medicine production is buy foreign patents and brands, or set up joint ventures with foreign partners.

Ji Yecheng has called on Chinese medical firms to build up their owe brands and the Chinese authorities to improve on current patent laws and relevant regulations regarding the protection of traditional Chinese medicine, and medical treatment and scientific research systems within the country.