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Hoodia demand is huge and the supply clearly can’t match with the demand. Importing and exporting real hoodia requires some business documentation. Hoodia supplement companies seek addition to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). A CITES certificate is needed in an attempt to ensure trade in hoodia gordonii does not threaten its survival.
As such, an import permit is required for the product to enter the country, together with a CITES export permit from the country of origin or re-export. Import permits are issued through authorities only. In order to commercially import Hoodia, the export permit must state that it has been artificially propagated, or sourced under an approved commercial import program (CIP).
Hoodia Gordonii is in such high demand it is considered a protected plant and can only be exported with a special permit from the government of South Africa (a CITES permit).
A CITES certification is a license issued by the African government allowing the exportation of rare or endangered species.
One method of knowing whether you are buying authentic hoodia product is to find out whether it is actually made from the Hoodia bought under CITES permit. These documents, tell you the company you are dealing with has imported real Hoodia Gordonii at some point. These documents do not help you determine if the supplement you are buying from the company is real Hoodia Gordonii and is therefore expensive. Hoodia gordonii is hard to grow and expensive to import, but one would think that the prices would be a little more comparable.
