The development of APIs in China has a long way to go

China's foreign trade in medicine in 2010 has continued its growth since 2009 At present, China's API market is characterized by cyclical overcapacity, large price fluctuation and large cost increase, which is difficult to pass on to importers The growth of APIs is mainly reflected in the quantity China's pharmaceutical export is dominated by APIs, and the structure dominated by low-end products is hard to change in a short time On June 21-23, the 11th world pharmaceutical raw materials China Exhibition and 2011 world pharmaceutical machinery, packaging equipment and materials China Exhibition hosted by China Chamber of Commerce for the import and export of pharmaceutical and healthcare products and Europe Bowen exhibition Consulting Co., Ltd opened in Shanghai Pudong New International Expo Center More than 1500 enterprises from more than 20 countries and regions participated in the exhibition, including many well-known pharmaceutical enterprises at home and abroad, such as Merck, ROQUETTE, Sinopharm, Shiyao, Haizheng, etc The meeting summarized the current situation, problems and development trend of API The current situation and situation of China's APIs in 2010, China's pharmaceutical foreign trade as a whole continued the growth momentum since 2009, with the total import and export volume reaching US $60.197 billion, an increase of 24.57% year-on-year, which has recovered to the level before the crisis In 2010, the overall volume and price of Western medicine APIs rose, and the mainstream market developed in a balanced way It is expected that in 2011, API exports will shift from rapid recovery growth to stable growth, driven by the continued expansion of market share in Europe and the United States and the growth of demand in emerging markets, with the growth expected to remain at about 20% The Deputy Secretary General of China Chamber of Commerce for import and export of pharmaceutical and health care products, Tan Shengcai, introduced the current situation and development trend of China's foreign trade in western medicine He said: there are more than 7100 registered pharmaceutical manufacturers in China, more than 4000 have passed GMP certification, more than 1600 raw material pharmaceutical manufacturers registered with the State Food and drug administration, and more than 3700 raw material pharmaceuticals have obtained GMP certification The strong recovery and stable development of the industry provides a good opportunity for the world pharmaceutical raw materials China exhibition In recent years, China's pharmaceutical industry has developed rapidly As the world's largest supplier of APIs and pharmaceutical intermediates, China has established a solid international position Cai Tianzhi, the medical equipment department, said that with the rapid development of China's economy and the increasing demand for medical care, the requirements for drug quality have gradually increased At the same time, along with China's adjustment of product structure and transformation of growth mode, it will promote the rapid development of China's pharmaceutical industry, indirectly driving the new rise of China's pharmaceutical equipment and packaging equipment and materials industry Yu Zhibin, assistant director of the Ministry of traditional Chinese medicine, said that in the first quarter of 2011, China's import and export of plant extracts reached US $310 million, an increase of 46.4% year on year Among them, the export volume reached US $270 million, an increase of 53.4% year on year, accounting for 48.4% of the export volume of traditional Chinese medicine, and the proportion of plant extracts in the export of traditional Chinese medicine products gradually increased Generally speaking, the first quarter is the off-season for the export of plant extracts, which is the trough of the whole year However, the export of plant extracts in the first quarter of this year is different from that in previous years, with a substantial increase year-on-year, and the export market of plant extracts presents new characteristics The main problems faced by China's API Market Mr Tan Shengcai, Deputy Secretary General of China Chamber of Commerce for the import and export of pharmaceutical and health care products, talked about the problems of API Market: China's API market is characterized by cyclical overcapacity, large price fluctuation and large cost increase, which is difficult to pass on to importers For example, VC's export volume in 2010 almost meets all the needs of the international market; saccharin, China's output accounts for more than 80% of the world's total output, and 70% - 80% is for export; paracetamol accounts for about 40% of the international market share According to the common sense, if the market share is high, we should have the right to price, and we can sell at a good price However, the prices of these exported products in the international market fluctuate around the cost line many times The reason for this is that there is no doubt that overcapacity is the main culprit For example, penicillin has a total annual demand of 560000 tons in the global market, while China's annual production capacity has exceeded 100000 tons; 7-ACA has a global annual demand of 4000 tons, and China's annual production capacity has reached 7000 tons; VC's global annual consumption is about 110000 tons, and the production capacity of five enterprises, such as northeast China Pharmaceutical and North China pharmaceutical, has reached 120000 tons, and other enterprises are building and planning to build 100000 tons It can be said that many bulk APIs and intermediates in China have serious overcapacity, and this situation is also spreading from old varieties to new generic APIs The prospect of export tax rebate is not optimistic, and the competition trend is weakened; the appreciation trend of RMB leads to greater experience risk; the adjustment of export tax rebate rate is mainly aimed at products with high pollution and energy consumption, and anti infective APIs and vitamin APIs are the major categories with high pollution degree, although the bulk APIs such as antibiotics and vitamins did not enter the name of export tax rebate adjustment in July 2007 Single, but reducing the tax rebate rate is the general trend While the country further liberalizes the trade policy, it also encourages enterprises to participate in the international competition in a more open manner In terms of chemical drugs and biological drugs, after the appreciation of RMB, the import price of foreign new special drugs will decrease, indirectly reducing the profit space of domestic generic drugs, and the price of domestic enterprises' products will be slightly reduced, but the total impact is not significant However, most of the raw material procurement and sales of the traditional Chinese medicine industry are mainly in the domestic market, and the change of the exchange rate has little impact on it The extension of industrial chain is insufficient, and the gap is obvious in the competition with India Due to the low profit of API production and the high cost of environmental protection, API in the U.S market is mainly imported, while European countries are the main suppliers In particular, the outsourcing of finished drug production is relatively mature They mainly carry out directional contract production with European countries, such as Ireland, Germany, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, etc In recent two years, India and China have attracted more and more attention from multinational pharmaceutical groups due to their advantages in processing and manufacturing, and there are many forms of contract outsourcing business in China and India However, India has transformed into APIs, and China is still at the low end of the industrial chain, with high price volatility The development trend of China's API Market from the current global competition pattern of API industry, the United States has the advantages of pharmaceutical patents, Western Europe has the advantages of technology, and developing countries have the advantages of cost While the developing countries are led by India and China China has become the second largest producer of APIs in the world, while the global consumption of APIs is close to 20 billion US dollars, and it is growing at the rate of 10% - 15% every year There are more than 1400 kinds of APIs that China can produce, 90% of which are mainly supplied to the international market, accounting for about 1 / 4 of the global trade volume of APIs There are more than 60 kinds of APIs in the international market Strong competitiveness Chinese enterprises play a very important role in the global market of APIs and pharmaceutical intermediates The structure of Chinese pharmaceutical exports dominated by APIs and dominated by low-end products is difficult to change in a short time Exports will grow at an annual growth rate of 10% The growth of API is mainly reflected in the quantity, and the price is basically the same or slightly increased.