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Entrepreneur: High demand for ketum in US, Europe markets

An entrepreneur who runs a business exporting ketum leaves claims the products based on the plant are extensively used as alternative medicine in the United States and Europe for over 10 years.

Ooi Teik Lee, 53, also claimed US-based pharmaceutical companies had patented products made from ketum (scientific name mitragyna speciosa).

"I need to reveal this information because the ketum issue has became a hot topic and the Rubber Industries Smallholders Development Authority (Risda) which had proposed to grow the plant commercially was rejected by the government.

"We are actually trying to deny the health benefits of ketum and associating it with unhealthy behavior but eventually, when the plant is mixed with prohibited substances, then it will turn harmful, and finally ketum gets a bad name," he told a press conference today.

The conference was organised by 'Gabungan Setia Melayu Pulau Pinang', an NGO which defends the fate of ketum farmers in Penang, Kedah and Perlis.

Also present was the NGO chairperson Mohd Ridzuan Ibrahim, and nearly 100 ketum farmers from the three states.

Ooi said there were many ketum-based products in the US and European markets, such as tea sachets, capsules and juices.

"The exported ketum will be labelled as 'Kretom', and it can't be changed as western researchers have acknowledged it that way and, if the plant proves to be harmful as (dangerous) drugs, certainly the US and Europe would have banned it," he added.

Ooi said he had run his ketum business (in the form of dried leaves and powder) in Medan, Indonesia since 2008, which was not illegal to cultivate and export the plant in Indonesia.

He said he had appointed dealers in Washington DC and Florida which are also a gateway for his business to penetrate the European market.

"Before this, I used the Penang export hub to obtain supplies from Kedah and Perlis... however, the state laws had restricted it.

"In Indonesia, the export licences only need approval from the Indonesian government," said the Penang-born entrepreneur, adding that Indonesia is now the largest ketum exporter for the US and Europe.

Ooi said besides cultivating the farm with investors in Medan, he also bought the plant from local growers but declined to disclose the value of his annual exports.

According to him, the export price of dried ketum leaves or the powdered substance was priced at between US$50 and US$60 per kg.

"It is a multi-billion ringgit business, and it has potential to be expanded in Malaysia if the government supports it," he said.

He said since last year, several pharmaceutical companies in China had shown interest in acquiring ketum leaves but it was still under the negotiation stage, adding that two countries in the Middle East had also shown interest.

- Bernama

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