Profit up 15% in China's Pharmaceutical Industry in 2011   

There were 6 154 companies in China's pharmaceutical industry in 2011, each of them reported core business sales revenue of more than RMB20 million, according to the China Pharmaceutical Industry Association. These companies posted combined industrial production value of RMB1.57 trillion last year, an increase of 28.5% YoY, and a combined profit of RMB157.7 billion, up 23.2%. The profit growth was 2.1 percentage points below national industrial average. These companies also posted a 17% increase in export delivery value, at RMB144 billion.
   Among the sectors of the pharmaceutical industry, the health materials sector posted the highest growth in core business revenue, rising 39.4% YoY, while the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) sector ranks No.1 in profit growth, at 43.6%. The core business revenue advanced 39.4% annually and profit rose 41.6% yearly in the sanitary materials sector.
   China's chemical pharmaceutical sector recorded industrial production value of RMB731.3 billion in 2011, up 24.5% from a year earlier. Core business revenue rose 23.4% YoY to RMB715.5 billion. Profit totaled RMB69 billion, up 15.6% YoY. Still, profit growth was 7.6 percentage points below the average of the whole domestic pharmaceutical industry. The chemical pharmaceutical sector also reported an export delivery value of RMB65.14 billion, up 12.8% from a year earlier. But that is 4 percentage points below the pharmaceutical industry average.
   API (active pharmaceutical ingredients) producers posted combined industrial production value of RMB308.2 billion in 2011, up 25% YoY. Core business revenue rose 22.6% to RMB305 billion while profit jumped 21% to RMB24.79 billion. Profit growth was 2.1 percentage points lower than that of the domestic pharmaceutical industry. The cost of its main business rose 24.5%, which was 1.5 percentage points higher than the growth of its core business revenue. API producers also realized export delivery value of RMB52.8 billion, an increase of 12.2% YoY. That was 4.8 percentage points below the domestic pharmaceutical industry average. And there were 140 API companies were unprofitable last year, with combined loss of RMB1.04 billion.
   Companies engaged in API formulations production realized industrial production value of RMB423.1 billion, up 24.1% YoY. Their core business revenue rose 24% to RMB410.5 billion while core business costs jumped 27.9%. The API formulation sector's profit gained 12.8% to RMB44.23 billion. The growth was 10.4 percentage points below the domestic pharmaceutical industry average. API formulation export value totaled RMB12.33 billion, an increase of 15.6% YoY. Of the 1 032 API formulation makers with annual sales exceeding RMB20 million, 134 lost money in 2011. The combined loss was RMB1.13 billion, 19.3% more from a year earlier.