LAHORE, July 21 (Gwadar Pro) - "Since thousands of years ago, the Chinese have been working on the research of traditional medicines, and they are very successful. Pakistan companies want to do joint ventures with the Chinese and may do business in China, there are a lot of potentials,” said Hakeem Muhammad Usman, CEO of Marhaba Laboratories,(Pvt) Ltd. It is a 46-year-old company with over 100 varieties of products including herbal medicines, health and beauty products, and herbal cosmetics.

 

“In China, the development of functional foods such as special diets is very potential. People's demands for health and anti-aging become stronger and stronger, so they will rely on some health products to achieve that.” Sheng Jie, secretary-general of China International Slimness and Fitness Association (CISFA) said, adding that the supervision of the health food production has become more and more strict as its market grows.

 

“COVID-19 has prompted a surge in demands for health food and other health products. Sales volume of immunity products which contains vitamin C and echinacea produced by Amway has soared by more than 10 times since the outbreak of the epidemic,” said Chen Jia, vice president of Amway China R&D Centre. Chen Jia told us that South Asian countries such as Pakistan have abundant herbal resources, while their food safety supervision systems are different from China. To explore Chinese market, Pakistan companies can follow China's food safety supervision system under the assistance of Chinese companies or associations. There is a great potential for cooperation in the development of health food. “Turmerics, a popular Ayurvedic herb and cooking plant, is added to Amway's new product as a source of immunity. Such attempts can be new formulating strategies for health dietary supplements.”Chen Jia said.

 

“There are over five hundred herbs produced in Pakistan, there are also many herbs being exported from here.” Hakeem noted that Pakistan agricultural departments are working on improving herb cultivation through providing trainings to farmers and publishing booklets.

 

Marhaba Laboratories exports its product to almost 40 countries. It is also a regular participant of China Import and Export Expo(CIIE).”We have been participating in CIIE held in Shanghai since its beginning, and we got very good responses. The exhibition is a very good source, through which we get to know the behavior of people and the quality of the products that people like.”

 

Hakeem told us that currently two products from his company are registered in China. One is Amla Hair Oil and the second is Black Seed Oil. Moreover, they get encouragement from people's favor to Rosewater too. “As there are a series of CPEC programs started, there will be very good opportunities for Pakistan, and the export from Pakistan to China may increase. We hope the Chinese government can give us some guidance in related rules and regulations so that the process of product approval can be quicker.”Hakeem added.