Healthy trade in herbal medicines

20 January 1999

Healthy trade in herbal medicines

WORLD trade in medicinal plants is estimated at more than £36 billion a year, and rapidly growing, reports the Financial Times.

The paper takes detailed look at the business, which is flourishing in India and China.

Commercial cultivation of medicinal plants in India is difficult in the absence of standardised agronomic practices and high-quality planting materials which are hard to find.

Farmers in India will also have to be assured that they will receive a minimum support price, the paper says.

• Financial Times 20/01/99 page 38