Within hours, Sittichai was on Facebook selling freshly picked kratom leaves, sourced from his neighborhood in southern Thailand, to local consumers. “A lot of the older villagers kept kratom trees to harvest and eat its leaves,” Sittichai, 31, said. Thailand removed kratom from the narcotics list on Aug. 24 and on Sept. 8 lawmakers passed a draft law to allow kratom imports and exports. Thailand’s local kratom market could be worth 600 million baht by next year, based on assumptions that the sector will be smaller than the hemp industry, according to Chaiwat Sowcharoensuk, an analyst at Krungsri Research. Once Thailand announces rules to regulate trade and large-scale companies join the green rush, though, the export market could be significantly larger, he said.
