Health & Beauty

Under the complex internal and external situation, the regional trade vitality stimulated by the emerging markets of the "the Belt and Road" and the entry into force of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (RCEP) is adding a driving force for the steady growth of China's pharmaceutical import and export.

According to customs data, in the first half of the year, the import and export volume of China's medical and health care products reached US $127.963 billion, a slight increase of 1.28% year on year. Among them, exports amounted to US $81.38 billion, down 1.81% year on year; Imports reached US $46.583 billion, up 7.18% year on year. In terms of the performance of key markets, China's exports and imports to countries along the "the Belt and Road" and exports to RCEP member countries showed double-digit growth, far higher than the overall growth rate of industry imports and exports.

With regard to the export situation of China's pharmaceutical foreign trade, the relevant head of the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Pharmaceutical and Health Products said that despite the multiple challenges, the fundamentals of China's pharmaceutical foreign trade with strong resilience, sufficient potential and long-term improvement remained unchanged. With the implementation of the national economic stabilization package and the orderly promotion of the resumption of work and production, China's import and export of medical and health products is still expected to overcome the adverse factors of the continuous decline in the global demand for epidemic prevention materials and continue to maintain stable growth.

Since this year, the global COVID-19 has continued to spread, the Ukrainian crisis has severely disrupted the process of global economic recovery, inflationary pressure and supply chain pressure have continued to increase, and the international environment has become more severe and complex. At the same time, the multi-point spread of the domestic epidemic has also brought great pressure on the production and operation of some enterprises and the stability of the supply chain. All these have increased the instability and uncertainty of China's pharmaceutical import and export. Especially affected by the adjustment of epidemic prevention policies in many countries, the export growth rate of protective medical dressings and human vaccines such as masks (medical/non-medical) and protective clothing has decreased significantly.

The analysis from the Medical Insurance Chamber of Commerce shows that in the first half of the year, the export of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine maintained a good growth trend, while the growth rate of the export of medical devices declined.

According to customs data, in the first half of the year, China's exports of traditional Chinese medicine products reached 2.802 billion US dollars, up 21.35% year on year. From the perspective of segmented products, the plant extracts with the highest proportion of exports were the most active, with an export volume of 1.765 billion US dollars, up 28.19% year on year; Chinese medicinal materials and decoction pieces took the second place, with an export value of 668 million US dollars, up 1.83% year on year; The export of Chinese patent medicines reached 207 million US dollars, up 45.57% year on year, with the largest growth rate among the traditional Chinese medicine products; The export of health care products reached 162 million US dollars, up 20.94% year on year.

During the same period, the foreign trade of western medicine developed strongly. According to customs data, China's export of western medicine products reached 34.533 billion US dollars, up 17.71% year on year; The import volume was US $25.064 billion, up 19.99% year on year. The total import and export volume of western medicine accounted for 46.57% of the pharmaceutical foreign trade market share. Among them, Western medicine raw materials are still the main force of export, with an export value of 27.77 billion US dollars, with a year-on-year increase of 42.52%, accounting for 34.12% of the total pharmaceutical foreign trade market. The export volume of antipyretic and analgesic drugs, penicillin and other anti-epidemic raw materials increased by 31.64% and 30.5% respectively; The exports of central nervous system drugs, cardiovascular system drugs, amino acids and their derivatives among non-anti-epidemic raw materials increased by 111.10%, 62.40% and 59.02% respectively. The export value of Western patent drugs was 3.339 billion US dollars, up 22.22% year on year. Hormone drugs in the subdivided products increased significantly, with a year-on-year increase of 74.77%. Mainly affected by the sharp decline in the export value of human vaccines (US $798 million, down 84.1% year on year), the export value of biochemical drugs was US $3.424 billion, down 51.91% year on year.

According to customs data, in the first half of the year, China's medical device trade volume was 64.174 billion US dollars, of which the export volume was 440.45 billion US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of 14.04%. The export of protective medical dressings, such as masks (medical/non-medical) and protective clothing, among the segmented products, continued to decline significantly. Among them, the export of medical dressings and disposable consumables was US $4.173 billion and US $15.722 billion, down 56.87% and 14.18% respectively year on year.

According to the analysis of the Chamber of Commerce for Medical Insurance, from the perspective of key markets, in the first half of the year, China's import and export to countries along the "the Belt and Road" and RCEP member countries were outstanding. Among them, the export to countries along the "the Belt and Road" was 27.235 billion US dollars, up 29.8% year on year; Imports from the "the Belt and Road" countries reached US $7.917 billion, up 14.02% year on year. During the same period, China's exports to RCEP member countries reached US $18.633 billion, up 13.08% year on year; Exports to ASEAN reached US $8.773 billion, up 7.77% year on year; Imports from RCEP member countries reached US $21.236 billion, up 5.06% year on year. Tariff concessions brought by the entry into force of RCEP have reduced the cost of pharmaceutical trade between China and its member countries. The rules of origin accumulation, customs procedures, inspection and quarantine, technical standards and other goods rules under the framework of RCEP will also effectively promote trade and investment cooperation in the region. In the future, the potential of pharmaceutical trade and economic cooperation between China and its member countries will be accelerated.

According to customs data, in the first half of the year, the top three national markets for China's pharmaceutical products exports were the United States, Germany and India, with a total export volume of 24.753 billion US dollars. In addition to maintaining growth in exports to India, China's exports of pharmaceutical products to the United States and Germany declined. Among them, exports to the United States amounted to 14.881 billion US dollars, down 10.61% year on year; Exports to Germany reached US $5.024 billion, down 21.72% year on year; Exports to India reached US $5.549 billion, up 8.72% year on year.