| By Linda Yao, Asia Manufacturing Pharma |
| Tuesday, 27 May 2008 |
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With the rapid development of China’s active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) industry over the past few years, the country has become the largest producer and exporter of chemical APIs in the world.
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According to statistics from China Customs, the export value of China’s chemical APIs amounted to approximately US$4.1 billion in the first quarter of 2008, a year-on-year growth of 336 per cent. China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products (CCCMHPIE) expects Chinese APIs’ export price to maintain at a high level and for total API exports to grow 20 per cent for the whole of 2008.
In addition, China continued its strong growth momentum in API imports and exports in the first three months of the year. The import and export value of chemical APIs increased 30 per cent to approximately US$5.7 billion during the period, accounting for about 53 |
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per cent of all pharmaceutical and health care products. China’s API exports have achieved a compound annual growth rate of over 20 per cent since 2001 and the growing exports have increasingly driven the development of the API sector. According to
CCCMHPIE, Asia, Europe and North America are the three major traditional import markets of Chinese APIs. API exports to the three markets grew over 40 per cent and the export price rose over 35 per cent in the first three months of the year. The five countries in these markets which Chinese APIs are mostly exported to are the US, India, Germany, Japan and the Netherlands.
Chinese pharmaceutical companies exporting APIs numbered 5,015 in the first three months.
Zhejiang NHU Company
, Zhejiang Medicines & Health Products Imp. & Exp,
Zhejiang Medicine
, Northeast General Pharmaceutical Factory
and Weisheng Pharmaceutical (Shijiazhuang) are China’s five top API exporters and raising stars.
Industry analysts believe the |
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Chinese API industry will face supply shortages this year with the implementation of the new emission standard in the industry, and that API export prices are expected to continue to rise as a result of the appreciation of Renminbi, soaring prices for raw materials and increased labor costs arising from the implementation of the new Labor Contract Law.
China will not be replaced by other countries in the short term as the world’s largest API exporter, as there is no radical change to the overall situation or in demand from the international pharmaceutical market.
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