Emergence of malva nut as a strategic export commodity from North Sumatra, Indonesia

Recently, malva nut has emerged as a highly sought after commodity from North Sumatra with promising export growth to Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam, Malaysia, and Myanmar. In the span of January to July 2020, the export volume of this commodity from North Sumatra has reached 80 MT, which is far above its record in the entirety of last year at 20 MT. Traditionally, malva nut can be mixed with hot water and processed into herbal tea or other medicated drink to treat acute cough, throat inflammation, and respiratory problems. Carrying over from the positive trend of the interest from the overseas buyers for malva nut, the exporters in this region are hopeful that they can expand their market to Eastern Asian countries as this region has a keen interest in herbal drink ingredients.