Last Year’s Pharmaceutical Exports Reach Record High... 11.2% Increase from Previous Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Cho Hyun-ui] Last year, South Korea's pharmaceutical exports reached a record high of $5.19515 billion.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on the 3rd, the domestic pharmaceutical market size last year was 24.31 trillion KRW, a 5.2% increase compared to the previous year.

The total pharmaceutical production value was 22.3132 trillion KRW, up 5.7% during the same period, and it grew at an average annual rate of 7.1% over the past five years, which is three times the overall manufacturing industry growth rate (2.4%).

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety highlighted the main features of South Korea's pharmaceutical market last year as ▲ an increase in the production share of finished pharmaceuticals and domestic new drugs ▲ continuous growth in pharmaceutical exports ▲ growth of the domestic biopharmaceutical market and export expansion centered on biosimilars ▲ continuous increase in pharmaceutical imports.

Last year's production results consisted of 19.8425 trillion KRW (88.9%) in finished pharmaceuticals and 2.4706 trillion KRW (11.1%) in active pharmaceutical ingredients. The share of finished pharmaceuticals in total pharmaceutical production has steadily increased from 86.2% in 2017, 87.9% in 2018, to 88.9% last year.

Among finished pharmaceuticals, the production value of prescription drugs was 16.618 trillion KRW, maintaining a production share above 80% over the past five years.

Twenty-one domestic new drug items produced 235 billion KRW, a 26.4% increase compared to the previous year, with six items producing over 10 billion KRW each.

By company, Hanmi Pharmaceutical produced 1.0139 trillion KRW, an 11.7% increase from 907.5 billion KRW in 2018, maintaining its top position for the second consecutive year. It was followed by Chong Kun Dang (856.1 billion KRW), Daewoong Pharmaceutical (739.2 billion KRW), Green Cross (682 billion KRW), and Celltrion (592.6 billion KRW).

By product, Celltrion's 'Remsima Injection 100mg' ranked first with 108.7 billion KRW. It was followed by Handok's 'Plavix Tablets 75mg' (95.9 billion KRW) and Green Cross's 'Albumin Injection 20%' (86.4 billion KRW).

Pharmaceutical exports, which hit a record high last year, increased by 11.2% compared to the previous year and showed an average annual export growth rate of 15.2% over the past five years.

By country, the largest export destination was Japan ($575.84 million), followed by Germany ($571.29 million) and the United States ($529.09 million). Notably, exports to Switzerland ($43.65 million → $137.36 million) and Belgium ($26.8 million → $102.62 million) increased sharply by 214.7% and 282.9%, respectively, compared to the previous year.

The domestic biopharmaceutical market size was 2.6002 trillion KRW, a 16.6% increase from the previous year. Among these, recombinant gene drugs, which hold the largest share, surpassed 1 trillion KRW in market size for the first time.

Biopharmaceutical exports amounted to $1.28318 billion, with more than half, $714.19 million, exported to Europe. Exports to Asia ($294.9 million, a 35% increase from 2018) and Latin America ($193.26 million, a 49.1% increase from 2018) also showed remarkable growth.

Most of the exported products were biosimilars, recording $874.52 million, accounting for 68.2% of the total biopharmaceutical export value.

Pharmaceutical imports also increased by 6.2% from the previous year to $6.9751 billion. By country, the United States ($928.34 million), China ($848.66 million), and Germany ($811.49 million) were the top import sources.

Production of quasi-drugs reached 1.6574 trillion KRW, a 14.5% increase during the same period, marking the highest growth rate in the past three years.

Production of health masks was 207.7 billion KRW, an 81.4% increase compared to the previous year, which is 5.2 times the 33.7 billion KRW recorded in 2017.

The top five product groups by production value were toothpaste (562.8 billion KRW, 34.0%), oral medications (346.6 billion KRW, 20.9%), sanitary products (235.6 billion KRW, 14.2%), masks (223.1 billion KRW, 13.5%), and bandages and plasters (132.6 billion KRW, 8.0%).

By company, Dong-A Pharmaceutical maintained its top position with 322.2 billion KRW, followed by LG Household & Health Care (258.7 billion KRW), Amorepacific (126.4 billion KRW), Yuhan-Kimberly (111 billion KRW), and Aekyung Industrial (101.1 billion KRW).

By product, 'Bacchus-DX' (164.1 billion KRW) ranked first for the second consecutive year, followed by 'Bacchus-F' (103.8 billion KRW) and 'Perio Total Complete Clear Toothpaste (Package)' (67.1 billion KRW).

Lee Eui-kyung, Commissioner of the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, said, "In the Healthcare 3.0 era, the global pharmaceutical market continues to grow due to economic growth and aging populations," adding, "Since the pharmaceutical and bio industries are promising sectors with significant job creation effects, the government and companies must work together for continuous growth."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.