A large Japanese herbal medicine producer is spending more than 66 billion kip (US$ 7.8 million) to establish a medicinal herb garden and processing plant in Saravan province. Tsumura & Co signed a project development agreement with the Lao Ministry of Planning and Investment last Friday in Vientiane. The company conducted a feasibility study in 2005. The company’s expenditure includes US$ 1.8 million in capital investment registration and the balance of US$ 6 million for planting and processing plant construction. The company will operate the project for 30 years on an area of about 200 hectares in Lau-ngam district. Plants including ginger, oranges and cassia will be grown. The company has already planted several trial plots on 66 hectares. The company is expending its investment in Laos because the herbal medicine market in Japan has been growing by about 5 percent each year. It then signed a memorandum of understanding with the Lao government in 2008. Tsumura & Co will encourage local people to grow medicinal herbs for processing and export to Japan.
Source: Vientiane Times
