China's Import and Export of Bio-pharmaceuticals in 2009     

According to the statistics of China Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Medicines & Health Products, China's import and export value of bio-pharmaceuticals was US$887 million, up 44.35% year on year, of which the export value was US$87.175 million, up 53.16% year on year; and the import value was US$800 million, up 43.35%. At present, China has over 500 bio-pharmaceutical enterprises, with combined sales exceeding RMB40 billion per year. Its share in the country's entire pharmaceutical industry is lower than the global level, indicating that China's bio-pharmaceutical industry still has very much room for development. [All figures below are from 2009.]
   China had 135 companies that exported bio-pharmaceuticals, of which 20 companies had a bio-pharmaceuticals export value of more than US$1 million each. The top ten were Chengdu Institute of Biological Products, Beijing Charity Detection Technology Co Ltd, Shanghai RAAS Blood Products Co Ltd, Hualan Biological Engineering Co Ltd, Sichuan Kelun Bio-pharmaceutical Co Ltd, ABON Biopharm (Hangzhou) Co Ltd, Lanzhou Biological Technology Development Co Ltd, Shanghai Kehua Biological Engineering Co Ltd, Liaoning Chengda Biological Co Ltd and Sichuan Yuanda Shuyang Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. Their combined bio-pharmaceuticals export value accounted for 59.66% of the national total. China's bio-pharmaceuticals were exported to 126 countries and regions, but mainly to the Asian market, for which the export value accounted for 59.57% of the total. The 10 biggest destinations of China's bio-pharmaceutical exports were India, the United States, Hong Kong, Canada, Egypt, Ethiopia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and Pakistan. The combined exports to these countries accounted for 77.99% of China's total, and the exports to India alone accounted for 34.66% of the total.
   China's human vaccine export value was US$19.1576 million, up 19.71% year on year. The top five Chinese companies were Chengdu Institute of Biological Products, Liaoning Chengda Biological Co Ltd, the Import & Export Department of Changchun Institute of Biological Products, Shenzhen Maigao Industrial Development Co Ltd and Changchun Changsheng Biological Technology Co Ltd. Their combined human vaccine export value accounted for 87.19% of China's total, of which Chengdu Institute of Biological Products alone accounted for 45.92% of the total. After many years of effort, Chengdu Institute of Biological Products successfully passed the review of Indian drug supervision authorities and put its proprietary vaccine for encephalitis B into the Indian government's procurement system. This marks that the technological level of China's bio-pharmaceutical industry has been greatly improved. At present, except for Chengdu Institute of Biological Products, no other Chinese companies have put their products into foreign governments' procurement product lists.
   There were a total of 406 Chinese companies that imported bio-pharmaceuticals, of which 63 companies' import value reached over US$1 million each. Among them, the top five companies were GlaxoSmithKline (Shanghai) Biological Products Co Ltd, Roche Diagnostics (Shanghai) Co Ltd, Guangdong Southern Pharmaceutical Foreign Trade Co Ltd, China Animal Husbandry (Group) Corporation and East China Pharmaceutical Co Ltd. Their combined bio-pharmaceuticals import value accounted for 63.74% of China's total.
   China imported bio-pharmaceuticals from 43 countries and regions, mainly from Europe and North America, from which the bio-pharmaceutical import value accounted for up to 96.55% of China's total. The 10 biggest sources of China's bio-pharmaceutical imports were the United States, Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain and Italy. Bio-pharmaceutical imports from these countries accounted for 93.56% of China's total value, of which imports from the United States and Germany alone accounted for 43.91%.
   China's human vaccine import value amounted to US$196 million, up 6.41% year on year. Eleven Chinese companies imported human vaccines. The human vaccine import value of GlaxoSmithKline (Shanghai) Biological Products Co Ltd ranked first in China and accounted for 61.42% of China's total. Its major imports are GlaxoSmithKline's recombinant yeast derived hepatitis B vaccine liquid products. At present, China rarely imports hepatitis B vaccine products from other countries.
   Generally speaking, China's import and export of bio-pharmaceuticals are facing a good development opportunity. With the Chinese government's strong support, China's bio-pharmaceutical industry has made great progress and is becoming increasingly closely linked with the international bio-pharmaceutical industry. While China's import of bio-pharmaceuticals rises dramatically, the export of China's bio-pharmaceuticals is also growing steadily. It can be safely predicted that in 2010, China's import and export of bio-pharmaceuticals will continue to grow rapidly.