A precursor to Tiger Balm called Ban Kin Yu () was developed in the 1870s in
Rangoon,
Burma, during the
British colonial era by the practising Chinese herbalist
Aw Chu Kin, son of Aw Leng Fan, a Chinese
Hakka herbalist in
Zhongchuan,
Fujian Province,
China. His father had sent him to Rangoon in the 1860s to help in his uncle's herbal shop. Eventually, Aw Chu Kin himself set up a family business named Eng Aun Tong 永安堂 ("Hall of Everlasting Peace"). On his deathbed in 1908, he asked his sons
Aw Boon Haw and
Aw Boon Par to perfect the product. In 1918, the product was renamed "Tiger Balm" in order to gain broader appeal. By the 1920s, the brothers had turned Eng Aun Tong into a very successful business empire that produced and marketed pharmaceutical products, including the Tiger Balm medicinal ointment. Tiger Balm sold well in Burma, and was exported to China, Japan, and Southeast Asia. The brothers moved to Singapore in the 1920s due to problems with the
colonial British government. to promote the product. Boon Haw also established newspapers in China and Singapore; his daughter said that he spent so much money on advertising that "he thought it would be cheaper to just open a few newspapers". In 2013, a lawsuit filed by Haw Par against the Indian company
Rangoon Chemical Works, asserting that the latter's "Flying Tiger" balm with similar branding infringed on the Tiger Balm trademark, reached the
Supreme Court of India. As a result, Rangoon Chemical Works made changes in the branding of its product and redesigned packaging. In 2018, there were 10 products being sold under the Tiger Balm brand, in over 100 countries. Tiger Balm generated in revenues in 2015. Haw Par's revenues from Tiger Balm sales in India were in 2018. The product sold in India is manufactured in
Hyderabad by Makson and marketed by
Alkem Laboratories. Between 1993 and 2011, it had been manufactured and marketed by
Elder Pharmaceuticals. ,
Bangkok showcasing the brand's partnership with
FC Bayern Munich In 2024, Tiger Balm became an official regional partner of
FC Bayern Munich for China, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam for four years. ==Composition==