Health & Beauty

According to the latest data released by the General Administration of Customs of China, my country’s exports of medicinal materials and drugs increased by 93.6% in the first half of the year, and the value of private enterprises’ exports of medicinal materials and drugs increased by 70.8%. At the same time, my country has exported more than 5 percent to 112 countries and regions. 100 million doses of new crown vaccine and stock solution.

The latest World Trade Organization (WTO) report on global medical supplies trade shows that in 2020, global medical supplies trade increased by 16.3%. China became the largest exporter of key medical products in the fight against the new crown that year, with an export value of 105 billion U.S. dollars. (Approximately 647.2 billion yuan), the world's three largest trading countries in this category of products are China, the United States and Germany.

Global trade in medical supplies increased by 16.3%

Despite the overall downturn in global trade last year, the trade in medical goods has experienced an astonishing growth. In 2020, global merchandise trade will drop by 7.6% as a whole, while medical supplies trade will grow at a rate of 16.3%, from the previous value of 4.7%. According to the preliminary figures of the WTO, the total trade of medical products in 100 economies around the world has reached US$2.3430 trillion, which is equivalent to 6.6% of global trade in 2020, compared with the previous value of 5.3%. Although only an increase of 1.3%, this share growth has been quite strong for a relatively small product group in global trade.

According to the WTO classification, the medical products included in the calculation include medicines, masks, gloves, disinfectants, ventilators, medical disinfection and sterilization equipment, hand sanitizers, pulse oximeters, and so on. From a breakdown point of view, in 2020, the trade volume of medical products under all categories will increase significantly. Among them, drugs are still the category with the largest trade volume, accounting for more than 50% of the total share.

However, the highest share increase is personal protective equipment (PPP), which rose from 13.7% of the total trade volume in 2019 to 17.4% in 2020. If calculated by the value of goods, in 2020, the global personal protective equipment increased by 130.6 billion U.S. dollars Among them, the trade volume of masks has increased by more than 80%.

In 2020, the total trade in masks will reach US$277.7 billion. Among different types of masks, the trade volume of textile masks has increased nearly five times. In addition, the diagnostic reagents and test kits used to determine the onset of the new crown epidemic account for about 20% of the trade in medical supplies.

China and the United States: the world's top three

WTO statistics show that China, Germany, and the United States are the world's largest trading nations of key medical products in the fight against the new crown.

The three major economies of China, Germany and the United States will account for approximately 31% of global merchandise trade in 2020, and their share of key medical products in the fight against the new crown is even higher, at 41%. The top 10 economies in this category account for about 71.6% of the global supply of key medical products to fight the new crown.

Among them, in terms of combating the export of key medical products for the new crown, China's exports have almost tripled, from 38 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 to 105 billion U.S. dollars in 2020, and the product share has risen from 12.6% in 2019 to 26.7 in 2020. %about. This makes China the largest exporter of such products in 2020.

Earlier on January 14, Li Kuiwen, spokesperson of the General Administration of Customs and Director of the Statistical Analysis Department, revealed that from March to the end of 2020, customs across the country have inspected and released major epidemic prevention and control materials worth 438.5 billion yuan, of which masks are exported. 224.2 billion, worth 340 billion yuan, equivalent to providing nearly 40 masks for everyone in the world outside of China, including 65 billion medical masks, accounting for 30% of the export volume of masks. It also exported 2.31 billion pieces of protective clothing, including 773 million pieces of medical protective clothing; 289 million pairs of goggles and 2.92 billion pairs of surgical gloves. These products provide protection for medical personnel and other epidemic prevention and control personnel to do a good job of self-protection.

Li Kuiwen introduced that in terms of medical equipment, 271,000 ventilators were exported, including 212,000 non-invasive ventilators, 663,000 patient monitors, and 119 million infrared thermometers. In addition, 1.08 billion copies of new coronavirus detection kits were exported, which provided support for the new coronavirus detection work.

Another economy that will achieve substantial growth in exports of medical products in 2020 is Malaysia, with an annual growth rate of 52%.

At the same time, the value of key medical products exported by the United States to fight the new crown fell by 0.7%. The WTO believes that this may be due to an increase in its domestic demand.

In 2020, the United States will remain the largest importer of key medical products in the fight against the epidemic, followed by Germany and China. The United States has purchased 78 billion U.S. dollars worth of products from abroad, accounting for nearly one-fifth of the world's imports of such products. The shares of other major importers are relatively small, none exceeding 10%.

On the whole, the world's top 10 economies accounted for 61.7% of the world's total imports of key medical products in the fight against the epidemic, which is lower than the 71.6% share of the top ten export economies of this type of products.

The WTO pointed out that the statistics show that exports of key products of the epidemic are concentrated in relatively few economies with production capacity. It is worth noting that among the top ten importing economies of key products of the epidemic, the UK has the largest increase in imports in 2020, reaching 80.2%, followed by France (58.4%) and Italy (51.7%). This is also in line with the high incidence and high screening rate in the country that year.

The WTO pointed out that the bilateral trade pattern of the top three economies in the first half of 2020 will continue throughout the year: the United States and Germany are the main importers of key medical products in the fight against the new crown, and most of these products come from China. In 2020, U.S. imports of key products for the epidemic from China increased by 158%. At the same time, Mexico’s share of similar products in the U.S. market fell from 18.5% in 2019 to 14% in 2020.

According to WTO statistics, such products in China account for 40.2% of the U.S. market and more than a quarter (26.5%) in the German market. Together, China and Mexico provide more than half of the exports to the U.S. The key medical product of the new crown.

In contrast, German imports from China grew even higher, at 310.5%, an increase of 6.5 billion U.S. dollars compared to 2019. The WTO also pointed out that Germany's dependence on external key medical products is increasing: its imports from its three major import source countries (China, the United States and the Netherlands) have risen from 32% in 2019 to 46%.

China's three major import sources are the United States, Japan, and Germany, and imports account for almost half of China's total imports of key medical products in the fight against the new crown.

China exports more than 500 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine and stock solutions

As mentioned earlier, recent data released by the General Administration of Customs of China show that in the first half of this year, China has exported more than 500 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine and stock solutions to 112 countries and regions.

Li Kuiwen said at a press conference on July 13 that China's global supply of vaccines and stock solutions is equivalent to one-sixth of the current global vaccine production, making important contributions to global anti-epidemic cooperation and economic recovery.

Li Kuiwen said that in order to ensure the rapid customs clearance of the new crown vaccine, the General Administration of Customs has introduced a series of measures to actively connect with vaccine export companies, do a good job of export process interpretation and full chain guidance, and quickly clear the key equipment urgently needed for vaccine production to help expand the production capacity of the new crown vaccine. At the same time, the actual difficulties and needs of the new crown vaccine export companies were resolved in a timely manner, and a full-process traceability platform was established to significantly reduce the time for customs clearance. At present, the time for examination and approval of health and quarantine for export vaccines has been shortened from the legal 20 working days to 2 hours, and the time for customs clearance has been shortened to within 3 hours. While ensuring the safety and rapid customs clearance of the new crown vaccine, the customs has also taken a number of measures to severely crack down on the illegal exit of the new crown vaccine.