Current Perspective in the International Trade of Medicinal Plants Material: An Update.
- 1University
Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Faculty of Pharmaceutical
Sciences, Panjab University, Chandigarh-160014, India.
kvasisht@hotmail.com.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
The recent years have seen an increased interest in medicinal plants together with the therapeutic use of phytochemicals. Medicinal plants
are utilized by the industry for the production of extracts,
phytopharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals and their use is
expected to grow faster than the conventional drugs. The enormous
demand of medicinal plant material has resulted in huge trade both at
domestic and international levels.
METHODS:
The
trade data of medicinal plant material with commodity code HS 1211
(SITC.4, code 292.4) and their derived/related products which are traded
under different commodity codes has been acquired from COMTRADE, Trade
Map, country reports, technical documents etc for the period 2001 to
2014. The data was analyzed using statistical tools to draw conclusions.
RESULTS:
The
significant features of the global trade; the leading source, consumer,
import and export countries; and the striking trends are presented. The
trade of the ten key countries and the selected important items is also
discussed in detail. The conservative figure of trade of medicinal plants
materials and their derived/related products including extracts,
essential oils, phytopharmaceuticals, gums, spices used in medicine,
tannins for pharmaceutical use, ingredients for cosmetics etc. as
calculated from the global export data for the year 2014 is estimated at
USD 33 billion. The average global export in medicinal plants
under HS 1211 for the fourteen year period was USD 1.92 billion for
601,357 tons per annum and for the year 2014 it stood at 702,813 tons
valued at USD 3.60 billion.
CONCLUSION:
For
the studied period, an annual average growth rate (AAGR) of 2.4% in
volumes and 9.2% in values of export was observed. Nearly 30% of the
global trade is made up by top two countries of the import and export.
China and India from Asia; Egypt and Morocco from Africa; Poland,
Bulgaria and Albania from Europe; Chile and Peru from South America are
important supply sources. The USA, Japan and Europe are the major consumers of the world.
