>KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA: For an indication of how much the Malaysian herbal medicine industry has grown, look east at Japan where Tongkat Ali, sometimes called the "Asian Viagra", is the rage.
However, a closer look at the fad will reveal something unexpected -- the Japanese are consuming Tongkat Ali in chewing gum form.
Sold as "Suplitol Tongkat Ali Gum for Men", the chewing gum is advertised as containing "a variety of natural herbs and extracts proven to improve blood flow and muscular function".
Natural Resources and Environment Ministry secretary-general Datuk Suboh Md Yassin said the chewing gum was still new in Japan, but was already making waves there as well as in the United States.
With the popularity of Malaysian herbal medicine growing locally and overseas, it is estimated that the industry will be worth more than RM10 billion (S$4.2 billion) in sales within two years.
Currently, the industry only earns around RM4.5 billion, as many sectors have yet to be fully developed.
Suboh said at present, Malaysia exports close to RM300 million worth of herbal products to Europe, most of which were used to make perfumes.
"Our biggest challenge is to turn our herbs into products that can be directly consumed, not just to send them overseas to be turned into extracts," he said after launching a seminar on medical and aromatic plants at a hotel here yesterday.
For this, Suboh said his ministry would have to work hand-in-hand with the Forest Research Institute of Malaysia (Frim), Institute for Medical Research Malaysia and the Ministry of Health.
"Frim has set up a test centre worth RM500 million to produce the extract of herbal plants, but they are still looking at the commercialising part," he said.
The Malaysian forest is home to 52,000 wild herbs that can be commercialised.
He said these herbal plants now come under the protection of the Ministry's National Biodiversity Policy, National Bio-safety Act and the National Forest Act 1984.
The Ministry is also working to instil more awareness among loggers of the importance of preserving the forest and looking beyond timber as a main source of income.
"The country's herbs, found in the wild, are being cleared by loggers who don't know that they are as valuable as timber," he said.
Globally, the herbal medicine industry is worth RM720 billion and is expected to grow to RM18 trillion by 2050.
As such, Malaysia could claim a large stake in the industry as it was rich in herbal vegetation, and has been ranked as the fourth richest Asian country in bio-diversity and 12th in the world, he added.
