Exports up as Chinese companies grow stronger

By Liu Zhihua | China Daily | Updated: 2019-04-16 08:10

Employees check traditional Chinese medicine products at a factory in Nantong, Jiangsu province. [Photo by Xu Congjun/For China Daily]

China exported more medical and healthcare products in terms of both value and volume last year, and industry insiders said the growth was due to the country's supply-side reform that has improved Chinese medical and healthcare products' standing in the international market.

Total exports increased 5.96 percent year-on-year to $64.42 billion, according to a recent report by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicine and Health Products.

Exports of traditional Chinese medicine products were worth $3.91 billion, a year-on-year increase of 7.39 percent, thanks to an average price growth of 16.69 percent year-on-year.

Exports of medical devices grew 8.88 percent to $23.63 billion, according to the report.

Exported Western medicine reached $36.88 billion, increasing 4.03 percent year-on-year, among which exports of formulations were worth $4.1 billion, a year-on-year growth of 18.64 percent.

The top three markets importing formulations from China were the European Union, Australia, and the United States. The formulations exported to developed countries totaled $2.37 billion, increasing 38.39 percent year-on-year, the report said.

The year-on-year export growth to the EU, the US, and Japan in 2018 was 80.3 percent, 24.62 percent and 27.49 percent respectively.

Wang Maochun, vice-president of the chamber, said the fast growth of formulation exports indicates that Chinese pharmaceutical companies are getting more presence in the international pharmaceutical market, a reward for their years of efforts.

Shi Lichen, founder of medical consultancy Beijing Dingchen Consultancy, said more formulations, mostly generic medicines, are exported from China, because Chinese generic medicines are gaining increasing acceptance in developed economies such as the US and the EU.

Such a phenomenon is part of the larger picture that China is becoming a generic medicine powerhouse in the world, due to Chinese pharmaceutical firms' growing research and development capacity, he said.