Data release of China's Pharmaceutical Foreign Trade in 2017: the export growth rate reached the highest in five years!

Source: Medical Economic News March 5, 2018 according to the statistics of China Customs, in 2017, China's import and export of medical and health products reached US $116.676 billion, an increase of 12.64% year on year Among them, export reached 60.799 billion US dollars, reversing the decline of last year, with an increase of 9.44%, reaching the highest level in the past five years; import reached 55.877 billion US dollars, with an increase of 16.34%; and foreign trade surplus reached 4.922 billion US dollars, with a decrease of 34.60%   In 2017, on the one hand, China's pharmaceutical trade was affected by many adverse factors, such as the obvious increase of trade friction, the more fierce competition in the new round of international industry, and the decline of the payment ability of some emerging economies On the other hand, the overall recovery of the global economy, the stable recovery of international market demand for pharmaceutical trade, the further optimization of China's pharmaceutical export structure, and the internationalization of enterprises With the acceleration of the pace, new momentum of development is emerging, and the overall development situation of pharmaceutical trade is improving [export] "increase" is the main adjustment As a whole, in 2017, the international market demand rose, China's supply side reform achieved initial results, the export volume of medicine decreased and the price increased, and the export volume steadily increased Recovery of traditional Chinese medicine: performance differentiation of key markets: in 2017, the export value of traditional Chinese medicine reached 3.64 billion US dollars, up 2.07% year on year The main reason for the decrease in the export of traditional Chinese medicine is that the market of ASEAN, the United States and the European Union maintained growth, with growth rates of 17.19%, 8.94% and 5.34% respectively, and the export to Japan increased slightly by 0.81%; while the export to Hong Kong, China and South Korea decreased by 12.54% and 9.8% respectively From the perspective of the export classification of traditional Chinese medicine, the market of plant extracts is active, with the export volume of US $2.010 billion, up 4.33% year-on-year; the export of proprietary Chinese medicine is US $250 million, up 11.03% year-on-year; the export of traditional Chinese medicine and decoction pieces continues to grow negatively, down 2.23% year-on-year; the continuous downturn of traditional Southeast Asian market is the main reason for the negative growth of traditional Chinese medicine and decoction pieces Western medicine rebounded sharply: double digit growth was achieved In 2017, China's export of Western medicine products reached 35.456 billion US dollars, an increase of 12.62% Among them, API exports reached US $29.117 billion, up 13.71% year on year For major markets such as the United States, the European Union and India, the growth was 23.84%, 9.79% and 13.52% respectively The environmental protection cost of API enterprises is rising constantly, which makes the supply side shrink and backward production capacity withdraw gradually The competition pattern of high-quality enterprises is getting better and better The international market share and bargaining power are gradually improving The concentration of export enterprises is increasing and the export price is rising In 2017, the average export price of 25 Bulk APIs increased by 10.45%, which is the main reason for the growth of API export The export of preparations reached US $3.456 billion, up 8.32% year on year There are two characteristics: first, the growth point of international market is changing There was a strong growth in the standard markets for the EU and North America, including exports to the EU of $670 million, a substantial increase of 53.51%, and exports to Africa of 11.2%; while the Asian market was flat, with exports down 7.83% Second, the export of R & D innovative pharmaceutical enterprises has gradually become the main force to promote the export of preparations While the export volume of Huahai pharmaceutical, Hengrui pharmaceutical, Guilin South pharmaceutical and other pharmaceutical enterprises maintained a rapid growth, the number of simple new drug applications (anda) in the United States continued to grow, opening up space for subsequent growth The export of biochemical drugs was US $2 billion 883 million, with a year-on-year growth of 7.36% The main factor is that the export price of heparin sodium, the largest export variety of biochemical drugs, increased by 24.11%, and the export value reached 788 million US dollars, an increase of 29.33% In addition, the supply of domestic blood products increased, driving the export surge of 508.3% Steady growth of medical devices: in the future, we will see a breakthrough in the middle and high end In 2017, the export of medical devices reached 21.703 billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of 5.84% Medical dressings, disposable consumables, diagnosis and treatment equipment, health rehabilitation equipment and dental equipment all achieved steady growth of 2.97%, 9.53%, 4.11%, 6.29% and 17.00% respectively The market share of the United States, the European Union, Japan, India, Latin America and other countries expanded, and the export of equipment to Brazil increased by 32.72%, while the market growth to ASEAN and Africa was slow Further analysis of the export data shows that at present, the saturation of China's medium and low-end equipment products in the international market is relatively high, the equipment export has entered a slow growth period, and the main market growth is limited The market highlights are only reflected in India, Brazil and other large population countries The future growth depends on the breakthrough of medium and high-end equipment products to the mainstream market [import] maintained a double-digit growth rate In 2017, domestic demand remained at a high level, and import maintained a rapid growth The annual import value of China's pharmaceutical products reached US $55.877 billion, an increase of 16.34% year on year Among them, the import of Western patent medicine, which ranks the first in China's import of pharmaceutical products, reached 17.157 billion US dollars, an increase of 21.66%; the import of hospital diagnosis and treatment equipment reached 14.631 billion US dollars, an increase of 9.60% year on year With the implementation of the priority review system in China, a large number of imported drugs began to enter the Chinese market According to incomplete statistics, about 20 innovative drugs from foreign enterprises were approved for listing in China in 2017, of which about 35% were cancer drugs At present, China's pharmaceutical enterprises continue to improve their capabilities in international registration and certification, R & D, international marketing, global resource mix, etc., the product pattern and market pattern of pharmaceutical exports are undergoing profound changes, and the international trade environment of pharmaceutical is generally improving The favorable factors are: the demand of the main markets such as the United States, the European Union and India recovers and is expected to maintain stable growth; the export of preparations, medical equipment and other products to the European and American markets is significantly accelerated; the rigid demand of bulk APIs and medical devices in the global pharmaceutical market has not changed, and the export volume and price are gradually rising with the global economic recovery However, market uncertainties such as South America and Africa still exist, and the impact of pharmaceutical trade frictions cannot be ignored With the implementation of the 13th five year plan for API industry, China's pharmaceutical industry will develop in a more orderly, high-tech content, environmental protection, resource conservation, value-added enhancement and downstream extension direction, which will be more conducive to the continuous optimization and upgrading of export structure It is expected that the fundamentals of the steady development of pharmaceutical foreign trade will continue to be maintained in 2018.