The government is being nudged to aid the local herbal industry by increasing the proportion of Thai traditional medicine in the country's public health system to 10%.
State support would build confidence among herbal medicine manufacturers, including small and medium-sized enterprises, to help determine business plans and increase exports, said Sittichai Daengprasert, chairman of the Herbal Industry Club of the Federation of Thai Industries.
"This move would be a shortcut for Thailand to become an herbal hub in Southeast Asia," he said, adding this scheme would require traditional medicine to be more widely used in the country.
Herbal medicines represent only 2.21% of all medicines used in the public health system, which is dominated by imported drugs.
The value of local traditional medicines is 1.5 billion baht, while the total value of all medicines is 70.5 billion baht.
The government should promote greater use of traditional medicine as only 116 herbal products are included on the national list of essential medicines, said Saran Jaewjira, board chairman of the Herbal Products Association.
State promotion is needed because Thai herbal products have high export potential as alternative medicines in other countries, he said.
"Thailand is the largest herbal product exporter in Southeast Asia, yet it remains out of the top 10 exporters in the global market," said Mr Saran.
Most of Thailand's herbal products are exported to Japan, accounting for 19.5% of all herbal product exports, while 14.8% are shipped to India, 13.6% to China and 13% to Saudi Arabia.
The remaining 39.1% is exported to other countries.
The Herbal Industry Club is encouraging more local herbal product manufacturers to develop their products to meet two key standards: the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) and the Pharmaceutical Inspection Co-operation Scheme, also known as PIC/S.
The latter refers to an informal cooperation among international health authorities to work on GMP standards and inspection procedures for medicines. In Thailand, 56 factories have been granted certificates by the government, indicating they meet the GMP and PIC/S standards.