Last Year Medical Device Trade Balance Surplus of 3.7489 Trillion Won... Benefited from COVID-19

Growth in COVID-19 Diagnosis and Testing Sector Drives Surplus for Second Consecutive Year

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Young-won] The export growth of COVID-19 diagnostic and testing devices led to a trade surplus in medical devices in 2021.

According to the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety on the 3rd, the medical device trade surplus in 2021 reached 3.7489 trillion KRW, achieving a surplus for the second consecutive year. The medical device trade surplus first turned positive in 2020, recording 2.6041 trillion KRW.

Compared to 2020, production, export, and import performances all increased. Medical device production in 2021 was 12.8831 trillion KRW, up 27.1% from the previous year. Export performance was 9.8746 trillion KRW, and import performance was 6.1257 trillion KRW, increasing by 30.0% and 20.8% respectively compared to 2020.

Last year, the domestic medical device market size increased by 21.3% compared to 2020, reaching 9.1341 trillion KRW. This is about 3 trillion KRW more than the 6.1978 trillion KRW recorded in 2017.

This performance was driven by the growth of in vitro diagnostic medical devices and the COVID-19 self-diagnosis sector. In 2021, in vitro diagnostic medical device production accounted for 33.8% of total production. Export performance also increased by 26.4% compared to 2020, reaching approximately 5.3209 trillion KRW, which was about 53.9% of the total medical device export performance.

The COVID-19 self-test kit, first approved domestically in April last year, led the growth in production and export in the diagnostic reagent sector. The self-test kit ranked 7th in total medical device production and 4th in exports in 2021.

The top two export items among all medical devices were both used for COVID-19 diagnostic testing. The first was ‘High-risk infectious agent immunoassay reagents’ (3.0338 trillion KRW), followed by ‘High-risk infectious agent genetic test reagents’ (1.0478 trillion KRW) in second place.

Products used for personal health also showed growth. Personal heating devices used for muscle pain relief and other purposes saw production increase by 96.4% in 2021 compared to 2020. The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety analyzed that demand increased as interest in personal health management grew due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Additionally, performance of dental implants and multifocal intraocular lenses used in cataract surgery also increased.

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