Who Takes All That Chiraita ?

So little information is available about the international trade in Himalayan herbs once they leave Indian shores, that any study, however inadequate, is still better than nothing at all. Some information can be gleaned from a 1982 study prepared by The International Trade Centre (UNCTAD/GATT) and entitled Markets for Selected Medicinal Plants and Their Derivatives.

The report estimates that the total import in 1980 of ^–vegetable materials used in pharmacy" by the European Economic Community was 80,738 tons. Topping the list of exporters was India, with 10,055 tons of plants and 14 tons of vegetable alkaloids and their derivatives. India's export of "crude plant materials^– to West Germany alone was 6929 ions. Plant and plant parts imported from India by Switzerland for perfumery and pharmacy was 465 tons in 1981. (A significant proportion of exports-which are said to be from India have their origins in the Himalayan region, including Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet).