The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have observed that there has been a recent increase in popularity of kratom use as a dietary ingredient or herbal supplement in the United States. The imposition of an Import Alert on kratom by the FDA has made it difficult to accurately report on the actual number of kratom consumers, but there is no question the current American Kratom Association estimate of nearly five million kratom consumers is outdated and significantly understates the actual number of kratom consumers in the U.S.

The AKA surveyed commercial kratom exporters based in Southeast Asia who account for the vast majority of kratom raw material supplies that are shipped to the United States. This data excludes shipments from many small farmers in Southeast Asia who export directly to individual customers in the United States, but there is no way to capture the volume of those types of shipments.

Based on a survey of commercial kratom exporters in Southeast Asia, the average monthly volume of kratom exported to the U.S. averages 1,950 metric tons of kratom material per month. This baseline data allows for an updated and more accurate estimate of the number of kratom consumers in the United States.

The following methodology is used to estimate the U.S. kratom consumer population:

• 1,950 metric tons¹ of kratom material yields 4,299.009 pounds, or 68,784,144 ounces of kratom material available for processing per month

• This converts to 1,950,030,482 grams (28.35 grams per ounce) of kratom material

• On average, a kratom consumer uses 4.2 grams of kratom per day, or 125 grams per month (based on an average 30-day month)²

Based on this updated information on the volume of kratom material being exported from Southeast Asia to the United States that is subsequently manufactured into kratom consumer products, the updated data documents there are approximately 15,600,244 U.S. kratom consumers.^{3 4}

• A metric ton, that is used in Indonesia, converts to 2,204.62 pounds; and 1-pound converts to 16 ounces.

² Based on a survey of top kratom vendors in the U.S. on the average consumer use of kratom per month

³ [Formula: (1,950,030,482 grams of kratom material) ÷ (125 grams avg. monthly use) = 15,600,244 kratom consumers] ⁴ This data excludes direct sales of kratom leaves/powder from small farmers/distributors in Southeast Asia who sell directly to U.S. customers.

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