A worker poses with an unclean bird's nest at a processing plant in Kuala Lumpur, Feb 17. [Photo / Agencies]

"Ask anybody in the industry where is your market and they'll say (mainland) China and Hong Kong. Everybody is going there," said Group Managing Director Loke Yeu Loong. "We are looking at new markets, but if I sell raw bird's nest to Europe or India, they don't even know how to cook it."

Swiftlet Eco makes coffee, skin care, puddings and candies with bird's nest. Loke declined to give specific sales figures but said the profit margin on some of these products was 10 times more than the raw nests.