KUALA LUMPUR: The herbal products sector has emerged as one of the success stories under the Agriculture National Key Economic Area (NKEA), extracting value from Malaysia’s expertise in traditional medicines.
According to the National Transformation Programme (NTP) Annual Report 2016, the project was on track to meet the 2020 target of completing clinical trials for 10 nutraceutical and cosmeceutical products.
“Of the 24 herbal products under the programme, 11 have entered clinical trials in local and overseas locations like Europe, Japan, the United States, Egypt and South Korea,” said the report which was released on Tuesday.
Edible bird’s nest production marks another area in high-value products where Malaysia has made a name for itself.
The report said the signing of the bird’s nest protocol with China has opened a new market for Malaysian farmers and is expected to benefit 10,000 such farmers through an increase in prices from RM3,000 to RM5,000 per kg compared with RM1,000 previously.
The protocol was inked during Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak’s visit to China last November, allowing raw uncleaned bird’s nest to be exported from Malaysia to China.
To date, a total of 19 local edible bird’s nest processing plants have been approved by the Chinese government for export, from 15 in 2015 and just eight in 2014.
About 324 metric tonnes of edible bird’s nest were exported last year. — Bernama
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