Post Series: Reflections on India
Continuing my post series to give some more in-depth reflections on my experience in India. As many of you know, I have partnered with the raw material supplier K. Patel Phyto Extractions Pvt. Ltd. to bring to market more visibility and understanding for Indian Botanicals.
This week, I wanted to continue setting the stage for what sourcing from India represents to the Medicinal Plant market.
There is an estimated 52,885+ medicinal plants species world-wide. Among nations, China (4,941) and India (3,000 – 7,000, depending on source) have the highest recorded medicinal plants in use. And of the plant species present in country, India has the largest percentage (approx. 20%) used medicinally.
The global herbal medicine market size was USD$ 185 billion in 2020, and projected to grow to $430 billion in 2030, according to a Spherical Insights market report. Traditional medicine systems that utilize these plants in India include Ayurveda, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa (Traditional Tibetan Medicine) (watch for my post series introducing each of these).
In India, the domestic market for medicinal plants is strong and growing fast at a CAGR of 38.5% through 2026.
The global Ayurvedic market world-wide is estimated at a booming 12% CAGR through 2028.
Two other important concepts that have to do with sourcing plants from their native region:
1. CBD: The convention of biological diversity (CBD) is an international treaty aiming to conserve biodiversity of regions while also ensuring their sustainable use and fair and equitable sharing of benefits. To reach these goals, it is always better to source and share benefits from a region a plant is from.
2. Geoauthentic Trend: There is a trend for protection of ‘geographical indication’ botanicals in reference to the CBD.
As global supply chains are shifting due to realization of over-reliance on China, India, by the numbers, represents not only a strong choice for medicinal plant diversity, but also for its established and fast-growing domestic market.
To learn more about some of these Indian Botanicals, see my Indian botanical deep dive posts or visit www.phytoextractskp.com to subscribe to our newsletter.
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