Hospitals in China are engaging in a thriving trade in fresh human placentas, seen as a source of nutrition, despite a government ban, state media reported on Wednesday.

A recent investigation showed that placentas sell for up to $36 each, even though the health ministry prohibited the business more than four years ago, the Global Times said.

"(They) are rich in nutrition and good for human health," said a doctor surnamed Kong who retired in 2006 from the department of gynaecology at a hospital in northeast China's Heilongjiang province.

"I have eaten them several times," she said according to the paper.

A newspaper reporter at East Asia Economic and Trade News posed as a placenta buyer and found that the Jilin Gynaecology and Obstetrics Hospital in northeast Jilin province was a prolific supplier.

After initial negotiations, the reporter received a bloody placenta in a black plastic bag at a pre-arranged meeting in the hospital, according to the Global Times.

Some Chinese believe that placentas increase the body's resistance to disease and are especially good for those with frail health, according to the paper.

"If the mother is very healthy, and the baby was a boy and was her first born, the placenta price increases," an unnamed buyer was quoted as saying.