The Indonesian Kratom ban, which will occur on New Year’s Day 2022, continues to inch closer and is just 17 months away now. If this ban is not overturned before it happens, almost all of the United States’ Kratom supply will be cut off, since 95% of the Kratom imported into the United States is from Indonesia. This would be disastrous for the Kratom industry and Kratom users.
Notably however, an excellent alternative Kratom growing region is Papua New Guinea. I have researched the legality of Kratom in Papua New Guinea, and I have found no indication that it is banned there, making it the only native Kratom growing region besides Indonesia where Kratom is legal.
The environment in Papua New Guinea is perfect for growing Kratom, since it is near the equator and therefore never gets cold fronts, and also Papua New Guinea is so close to the equator that it almost never gets hurricanes. Indeed, a hurricane climatology map below shows that the southernmost coast of Papua New Guinea may rarely get a hurricane during Southern Hemisphere Summer, but the bulk of Papua New Guinea is hurricane free.
In other words, the main factors that are conducive to the growth of Kratom forests are a moist tropical environment, a complete lack of cold fronts, and a complete lack of hurricanes, and most of Papua New Guinea meets these criteria.
Indeed, it is no surprise that Papua New Guinea has perfect Kratom growing conditions, since it actually borders Indonesia, with Indonesia controlling the western half of the island of New Guinea and Papua New Guinea controlling the eastern half of the island.
Considering the perfect Kratom growing conditions in Papua New Guinea, and the fact that Kratom is legal there, the Kratom industry should work to establish business relationships with farmers in Papua New Guinea. This process should begin now, so that if Indonesia bans Kratom in 2022, God forbid, then at least there will be a steady supply of fresh Kratom from Papua New Guinea.