China's API exports to India rush to maintain rapid growth in the United States

Business Club May 7th According to the data released by the Chinese Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products on April 28, India has surpassed the United States as the country's largest export destination for APIs in 2010.

According to statistics from the Medicare Chamber of Commerce, the top 10 countries in the export of bulk pharmaceutical raw materials in China are India, the United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands, Brazil, Italy, Spain, and Belgium. The exports to these 10 countries accounted for 62.25% of the total exports of APIs. Of these 10 countries, 8 are developed countries, and only India and Brazil are developing countries. The growth rate of major export destination countries exceeds 20%, Italy has the largest increase rate of 36.67%, India is followed by a growth rate of 34.72%, and it has surpassed the United States as the country's largest export destination for raw material drugs.

Large price contrast

In recent years, China's pharmaceutical industry has developed rapidly. As the world's largest supplier of APIs and pharmaceutical intermediates, China has established its strong international status. From 2002 to 2008, the average annual growth rate of China's API exports was above 24%. In 2009 alone, due to the financial crisis, the amount of exports declined, but the 2010 exports reached US$20.3 billion, an increase of 26%. , resumed the trend of rapid growth.

In 2010, China's APIs were exported to 178 countries and regions. The key export markets were Asia, Europe and North America. The export volume of these three major export markets accounted for 87.29% of all APIs, and the export growth rate was more than 20%. The proportion and pattern of the three major markets are similar to those in previous years. Among them, the Asian market’s export volume and price rose, and the proportion increased by 1.06%. The export volume in Europe and the United States grew by a large margin. However, in the average export price, the European market declined slightly, and the North American market rose slightly. Less than 1%. The African market is also rising in volume and price, with an increase in export volume of 25%. Latin America's export volume has increased by 26%, and the growth rate of raw material medicines in all continents exceeds 20%.

There are various types of APIs produced in China, and there is a strong demand for bulk APIs in the international market. In terms of specific types of exports, there are three major categories of products with export value exceeding US$1 billion in 2010. Vitamins topped the list with US$2.3 billion, and central nervous system drugs ranked second with US$1.3 billion. The pain category squeezed into the top three with US$1 billion, and the amino acid and its derivatives also followed, at US$906.3 billion.

In 2010, there were changes in the export volume and average price of the two APIs that showed a "roller coaster" situation: the cardiovascular system medication topped the list with an increase of 5450%, leaving other categories far behind. However, in the case of a huge increase in export volume, its average export price has dropped by the top of the list, a drop of 95.92%, resulting in a huge increase in price and price drop contrast. Contrary to this, tetracycline ranked first in export volume, falling by nearly 30%, while its average export price ranked first, at 61.5%, resulting in a reduction in volume. In addition, the major categories of products with an increase in export volume exceeding 40% were lincomycins (71.64%), cephalosporins (49.19%), digestive systems (48.98%), and respiratory systems (41.86%). The major varieties with an average export price increase of more than 20% are macrolides (38.01%) and hormones (26.68%). Nearly 32% of the average export price of major varieties declined, with the exception of the largest drop in cardiovascular system drugs, the decrease in vitamins was 16.64%, and that of lincomycin was 13%.

This year is expected to grow by 20%

The experts from the Medicare Chamber of Commerce pointed out that although the advantages of Chinese raw material medicines in the international market are obvious, from the perspective of the operation in 2010, there are still many obstacles and deficiencies in the development of the raw material medicine industry in China. For example, overcapacity of bulk products may lead to low-price competition, large increase in costs may be difficult to pass to foreign countries, the outlook for export tax rebates may be worrying, the pressure of RMB appreciation will be greater, and the extension of the industrial chain will be insufficient. However, due to the continued growth in the international pharmaceutical market, Chinese raw material drugs have obvious advantages in many varieties and cannot be replaced in the short term. The quality level of China's bulk drug companies is also constantly improving. Therefore, it is expected that Chinese raw material drugs exports will maintain stable and high-speed development. It is expected that the export of raw material drugs in China is expected to maintain a growth rate of around 20% in 2011.

According to the latest data from the Medical Insurance Chamber of Commerce, in the first quarter of 2011, the import and export of raw material drugs in China continued to maintain rapid development, with total import and export volume of US$7,023 million, a year-on-year increase of 29.65%. The export value was 5.363 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 31.31% year-on-year. The growth was mainly driven by quantity, the export volume increased by 39.53%, and the export price decreased by 5.89%. This shows that the competition in the international market is still fierce, and the profits of export enterprises are declining. Imports increased by the same amount. The import value reached 1.66 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 24.55% year-on-year, and the price increase exceeded the number increase by 12.44%, indicating that the structure of imported products was being optimized.