Madagascar Aromatic and Medicinal Plants Value - Microlinks

1. EXPORT MARKETS
In terms of value, it is estimated that 80-90 percent of Madagascar’s AMP products are intended for export, the
majority of which are essential oils. Exports totaled $4 million in 2004. There is growing demand (8-15 percent per
year) 3 for many popular species of medicinal plants in Europe, North America and Asia. Factors and market trends
that will potentially increase the demand for medicinal plants are:
• increased costs of institutional and pharmaceutical-based health care
• search for new drugs and treatments of serious diseases
• consumers seeking an alternative or complement to pharmaceutical drugs and modern healthcare
• large pharmaceutical and over-the-counter companies placing botanical medicines more strongly on the mass
market through increased advertising budgets and media attention
• increased emphasis on safety, efficacy and quality that could push producers in Madagascar to increase research
and development, thereby improving the quality of medicinal products to conform to international standards
• increased requests for organically certified raw material or value-added products, especially for the development
of new products (e.g., medicines, nutritional supplements, cosmetics).
The European Union is the largest importer of AMP products, accounting for 38 percent of the world market in
2001. The leading country for AMP demand in Europe is Germany, constituting over 42 percent of the European
market, followed by France (25 percent), Italy (9 percent) and the UK (8 percent). The medicinal plant trade is largely
conducted through Germany: most importers are found in Germany and it is the leading market for exporters from
developing countries. In 2000, the world market for herbal remedies was U.S. $19.4 billion: Europe $6.7 billion, Asia
$5.1 billion, North America $4.0 billion, Japan $2.2 billion, and the rest of the world at $1.4 billion. 4 The main world
competitors for lesser-developed country exporters of aromatic and medicinal plants are China, Singapore, Brazil and
Egypt, which are the leading suppliers in the world market (Table 2).
3 FAO (2002), Biodiversity and Ecosystem Approach in Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/Y4586E/Y4586E00.htm
4 WWF-UK, Trade in Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, Factsheet 4: http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/pdf/tradeplants.pdf
MADAGASCAR AROMATIC AND MEDICINAL PLANT VALUE CHAIN ANALYSIS 17