The Market of Safed Musli

The largest global markets of Safed Musli are China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, UK and USA. Japan has the highest per capita consumption of botanical medicines in the world. In the US and Europe, the trade has typically been growing at an average of 10 per cent per annum, partly because of the popularity of alternative treatments and partly because there is increasing official recognition of the benefits of traditional medical systems involving herbal preparations. The International Council for Medicinal and Aromatic Plants expects world growth during 2001 and 2002 to be approximately 8-10 per cent a year. The US has recently been an exception, with a sharp drop in sales. In 1997, the five top-selling species in the US were Echinacea, Garlic, Ginkgo, Golden seal and Saw palmetto. In 1999, the world market for herbal remedies was US$19.4 billion, with Europe in the lead (US$6.7 billion), followed by Asia (US$5.1 billion), North America (US$4.0 billion), Japan (US$2.2 billion) and the rest of the world (US$1.4 billion).

The market in China is large and shared between public and private ownership. Thirteen of the top companies producing Traditional Chinese Medicines (TCMs) are listed publicly on the domestic stock exchange. Fourteen are state-owned. China’s total output of medicinal plants from both cultivated and wild-harvested sources is 1.6 million tonnes. The total value of the finished TCM sector in 1996 was US$3.7 billion. This estimate excludes domestic consumption, the inclusion of which would result in a far higher figure. Overall sales of botanical medicine products in China in 1995 were estimated at US$5 billion. The botanical medicine market in Japan in 1996 was estimated at US$2.4 billion.

Japan has the highest per capita consumption of botanical medicines in the world, and sales have grown rapidly in recent years, in part because doctors increasingly incorporate TCM as a complement to western medicine. In 1983, 28 per cent of doctors used TCM, but by 1989 this figure had risen to 69 per cent.

India is a major exporter of raw MAPs and processed plant-based drugs. Exports of crude drugs from India in 1994-95 were valued at US$53,219 million and of essential oils US$13,250 million. Important crude drugs included Plantago ovata (psyllium), Panax spp. (ginseng), Cassia spp. (senna) and Catharanthus roseus (rosy periwinkle). Essential oils included Santalum album (sandalwood), Mentha arvensis (peppermint) and Cymbopogon flexuosus (lemongrass). Seventy-five per cent of total exports from India are sent to six countries – France, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, UK and USA. Other major importers are Bangladesh, Pakistan and Spain.

The Demand of Safed Musli

In Ayurvedic literature, Safed Musli is renowned as Divya Aushad with enormous importance in the preparation of over one hundred different medicines. There is no gainsaying the fact that Safed Musli is an inevitable ingredient in any immunity-strengthening drugs. By virtue of being the home of Ayurveda, India has naturally been a huge market for Safed Musli. Also in western India, especially in Gujarat, people are given to the habit of taking a spoon of Safed Musli along with milk twice a day as a part of routine health-care. There are also instances of Safed Musli being used in various ways in varied parts of the country. That underlines the reason for a great deal of demand for Safed Musli in India.

Many countries in the Gulf, Europe including USA have been major importers of the dry roots of Safed Musli for a very long time, for its use in the making of various herbal products and thinks to the increasing awareness and appreciation of the goodness of herbal products. The demand for Safed Musli has been phenomenally growing across the globe.