Bovine Gallstones Now More Valuable Than Gold, Fueling Black Market Crime

Beijing. What is the most valuable commodity in the meat industry? Many might guess leather or other organs. However, the reality is slightly different. Small stones formed in the gallbladders of cattle, known as bovine gallstones (gallbladder stones), are currently selling for prices higher than gold in the international market.

This substance, used in traditional Chinese medicine for thousands of years, reached a price of $5,800 per ounce in 2025, which was nearly double the price of gold at that time.

Known as Niu Huang in Chinese pharmacology, these stones are specifically used in the treatment of serious health problems such as high blood pressure, heart diseases, and stroke. As the rate of stroke in China is currently three times higher than in the United States, the demand and price for this substance have skyrocketed. It is considered essential for making traditional medicines like Angong Niuhuang Wan.

The main challenge is scarcity. The possibility of stones forming increases only as cattle age, but modern slaughterhouses process cattle at younger ages for efficiency. This scarcity and rising price have led to smuggling and looting in regions like Brazil, Australia, and Texas in the United States.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, armed criminals have begun attacking farms not to steal cattle, but to search for stones that might be inside the animals' stomachs. Cases of slaughterhouse employees hiding the stones and selling them on the black market have also increased.

To alleviate market pressure, Chinese researchers have succeeded in creating artificial stones in the laboratory. Nevertheless, the natural stone is still considered the gold standard today.

On the other hand, according to Russian media, there is also a growing demand in China for stones extracted from human gallbladders. A single human stone has been found to fetch up to about $1,270 depending on its size and quality. Dozens of advertisements for the sale of human stones appearing on online platforms confirm its growing and alarming market.