Since industry sales are expected to shrink, price wars should continue.

He added that industry sales had been higher than expected so far.

"People are now seeing growth of 15 percent for the year," he said, referring to industry sales in general.

European government officials recently estimated that the industry sales were $500 million last year and would probably hit $1 billion in 1997.

Another 21% of industry sales come from traditional Chinese medicine.

Total industry sales for the month were flat with last year, Ward's said.

What are the industry sales and market trends the product idea is based on?

The results put industry sales at the lowest level since July.

Indeed, even with the strong performance, industry sales for the year are down 0.8 percent from 2001 levels.

And total industry sales are expected to reach a record high this year, $354 billion.