Are ox gallstones the new gold in Hong Kong? Report finds rising demand for pill ingredient

Ox gallstone is main ingredient in Chinese medicine pill, but chances of finding one in a bovine gallbladder are about one in 500 to 1,000

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Ox gallstones attract a high price due to their rarity and fragility, making them difficult to transport. Photo: Soho/钛媒体APP

Published: 1:24pm, 22 Sep 2024Updated: 5:30pm, 22 Sep 2024

Demand for ox gallstones in Hong Kong has risen significantly following the Covid-19 pandemic, with a US trade report showing the rare medicinal ingredient’s import value has increased nearly three times to HK$1.7 billion (US$218 million) over the past five years.

The surge in demand came under the spotlight after two siblings in Uruguay were sentenced this week for trafficking more than US$3 million worth of bovine gallstones to Hong Kong.

The report from the US Department of Agriculture’s agricultural trade office for Hong Kong noted sales of a pill that used the ingredient had grown and prompted a strong demand for ox gallstones.

Chan Man-hon, general secretary of the Hong Kong’s Union of Frontline Chinese Medicine Practitioners, said ox gallstones, or niu huang in Mandarin, were typically the main ingredient in “Peaceful Palace Bovine Bezoar” pills.

The pills were used to treat symptoms such as high fever, unconsciousness, convulsion and brain inflammation, or for certain types of stroke that traditional Chinese medicine practitioners considered to be carrying “too much energy”, he explained.

Rayson Lei, a local vendor who has bought and sold ox gallstones for at least seven years, said: “We have seen the demand and price of ox gallstones rising in the past few years.”