"The value of Indonesian exports of pharmaceutical products, including chemical medicines and traditional medicines, in 2023 registered an increase of 8.78 percent as compared to that recorded in 2022," he remarked.
He noted that despite the increase, the contribution of Indonesia's pharmaceutical products to the global traditional medicine markets is still rather insignificant.
"The value of global natural medicine markets has reached US$200.95 billion in 2023 and is expected to continue to increase. However, Indonesia's contribution to the markets still stands at a low level," he underlined.
Kartasasmita noted that Indonesia wields enormous natural medicine potentials that should be optimized, considering the fact that the country's soil is blessed with abundant wealth of natural resources
Hence, on that note, the minister emphasized the need for Indonesia to exert even greater efforts to develop its natural medicine industry in order to compete at the global level.
He suggested that Indonesia optimizes its potential of herbal medicines in a bid to expedite the development of its pharmaceutical industry, noting that UNESCO had listed jamu, Indonesian typical traditional herbal medicine, as part of the world's intangible cultural heritage on December 6, 2023.
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The minister then highlighted that Indonesian natural medicine industry players had produced 17 thousand jamu-type medicines, 79 standardized herbal medicines, and 22 types of phytopharmaca.
Based on data from Bank Indonesia, the volume of Indonesia's chemical, pharmaceutical, and traditional medicine industries in the Prompt Manufacturing Index had reached a preferable score of 52.50 points in the fourth quarter of 2023.
Meanwhile, the Industry Ministry has released Indonesia's score in the Industrial Confidence Index (ICI) for the January 2024 period, in which the country achieved a score of 52.35 points, an increase of 1.03 points as compared to that recorded in December 2023.
According to the ministry, the recent ICI score is based on the performance of 23 sub-sectors. The score assessment takes into account the expansion of rate and number of new orders, production, and availability of products. (INE)
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Translator: Ahmad M, Tegar Nurfitra
Editor: Aditya Eko Sigit Wicaksono
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