Your herbal tea has traveled the world before arriving in your cup.
Take a second to ask yourself the question. Where does this chamomile you are brewing tonight come from?
Not from the meadow behind your house. Not from the neighbor's garden. It probably comes from Egypt, which exports tens of thousands of tons of medicinal and aromatic plants to Europe every year. This thyme in your spice cabinet? It may come from Albania, where the plant sector accounts for more than half of the country's agricultural exports and employs over 100,000 people.
Chamomile grows everywhere in Belgium. Thyme too. And yet...
The global market for aromatic, medicinal, and perfumed plants: a logistical absurdity
The market for aromatic, medicinal, and perfumed plants (AMPP) is booming. It was worth 3 billion dollars in 2014 with an annual growth rate of 9%. Plant extracts reached 23.7 billion dollars in 2019. China dominates global exports with over 30% market share. Egypt and Morocco are gaining strength. Albania has become a major exporter to Europe.
And we, in Europe, import. Massively. In France, a neighboring country with dynamics similar to ours, imports of medicinal and aromatic plants account for 70 to 80% of the volumes used. France imports over 20,000 tons of plants per year worth 80 million euros, mainly from Morocco, China, and India. It exports 6,000 tons. The balance is telling.
And this situation concerns plants that, for many of them, grow perfectly in our latitudes. Chamomile. Thyme. Lemon balm. Valerian. Mint. Yarrow. Elderberry. Plants from the edges of paths, slopes, ordinary gardens that travel around the planet before landing in a box of herbal tea sold in supermarkets.
I saw that from the inside
I am not talking about this from a book. I worked as a purchase manager in the industrial herbal industry. I bought thyme in Albania, chamomile in Egypt, plants that grew thousands of kilometers away from where they would be consumed.
It was not malice. It was pure economic logic. These countries produce at costs that Europe cannot compete with, particularly due to cheaper labor and less stringent regulations. Collectors organize the export channels. Wholesalers import. Manufacturers process and package. And the final consumer buys a box of herbal tea without questioning what happened between the plant and the cup.
What struck me is not that this system exists. It is that it has become so normal that no one questions it. Neither buyers, nor consumers, nor farmers who could produce these plants locally.
Why is the PPAM sector so underdeveloped in Wallonia
That is the real question. If the demand is there, if the plants grow here, why is there not a structured local sector?
Several reasons are piling up.
The price, first. Egyptian chamomile or Albanian thyme are entering the European market at prices that a Walloon producer simply cannot compete with. It's not a question of quality — it's a question of labor costs, mechanization, and economies of scale. A local producer who wants to make a living from their plants must either target high value-added niches or find short circuits that bypass the industrial intermediary.
The absence of an organized sector then. In France, there are inter-professions, technical organizations, specialized agricultural chambers. The PPAM sector there represents more than 3,500 farms with a turnover of 150 million euros. In Belgium and Wallonia, it is almost non-existent on an industrial scale. There are remarkable artisanal players, a few passionate producers, herbalists, associations like Folia Officinalis that map local actors, but no structured sector capable of meeting industrial demand.
The lack of technical-economic references. How much does an hectare of lemon balm yield in Wallonia after drying and processing? What are the actual costs? What local outlets exist? These data barely exist. And without data, there are no farmers willing to start. No farmers willing to start, no data. It's a classic vicious circle of emerging sectors.
The regulation finally. Producing medicinal plants intended for sale involves navigating a complex regulatory framework: status of the plants, market authorization, drying and packaging standards. It's not insurmountable but it's an additional obstacle for someone who wants to start without support.
What it says about us
There is something dizzying about the fact that a region like Wallonia massively imports plants that could grow here.
It's not just an ecological issue, even if the carbon footprint of an herbal tea that has crossed the Mediterranean deserves to be considered. It's a question of food sovereignty, know-how, and the connection between what we consume and the territory where we live.
In France, imports are now turning to cheaper plants produced abroad at the expense of domestic production — to the point that some blends of herbs de Provence contain Polish thyme. If even Provence imports its thyme, we can gauge the extent of the problem.
And now?
It's not a foregone conclusion.
Can we produce aromatic and medicinal plants on a small scale, regenerating the soils, and actually make a living from it?
That's exactly the question we are exploring at the Living Lab of Petites Terres. Not in theory. On the ground, with figures to support it.
Because before imagining a sector, we must first prove that the model holds.