TEHRAN- The chairman of the Union of Medicinal Plants Exporters of Iran said the country’s export of medicinal plants can be increased through compliance more with the world standards.

Mohammad-Ali Rezaei Kamal-Abad stated that world standards are increasing due to the health-oriented consumption of herbal products, and failure to comply with these standards will lead to the return or destruction of these products.

“In the past years, poisons have entered the country, which are not only not used in other countries, but have also caused water and soil pollution in our country”, he lamented.

Referring to the importance of agricultural product export standardization, he added: “Standardization is done in our country, but this standardization is not up-to-date. With the coordination of ministries, expenditure and updating of information can help to standardize agricultural products and develop the export of these products”, he commented.

As previously announced by Rezaei Kamal-Abad, the value of medicinal plants exported from the country in the past Iranian calendar year 1400 (ended on March 20, 2022) was nearly 600 million dollars, but in the first nine months of this year, the value of the export of medicinal plants has decreased by 50 percent compared to the same period last year.

He said that having more than 11 climates out of 13 climates, Iran has 8,000 varieties of medicinal plants, which is at least twice as much as Europe.

According to global statistics, from 2020 to 2022, the turnover in the export of medicinal plants was more than 30 billion dollars, but of this amount, the export of medicinal plants from Iran was less than five percent, he further lamented.

He pointed out that in many countries of the world, the use of medicinal plants has become popular among the people, and said countries such as the U.S., China, and Germany are the main consumers of medicinal plants, so 65 percent of the drugs produced in Germany are of herbal origin.

Complaining about the drop in the export of the country’s medicinal plants in the current year, Rezaei Kamal-Abad said, “Forex obligation, non-mechanization of agricultural systems, non-holding of the international exhibition, bulk export of medicinal plants, and cumbersome laws for producers are some of our most important weaknesses in the export of medicinal plants”.

MA/MA