Opportunities Exist Despite Challenges in China's API Market

HANGZHOU, China, Nov. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- From 2002 to 2008, the average Chinese annual growth rate of APIs remained above 24%; in 2009, the total import & export value of APIs reached US$24.271 billion, with an increase of 2.89% year-on-year, which accounts for 49.42% of the total import & export value of Chinese pharmaceuticals. However, in the first three quarters in 2012, China's foreign trading has only increased by 1%-2%, indicating the coming of the most difficult trading time. As we all know, the competition in the global pharmaceutical APIs industry is very fierce and added with the slow global economic recovery, the European and American markets all have limited increases. Also, there is some uncertainty on the continuing increase in the newly emerging medical markets, and the demand in the international pharmaceutical market is not optimistic. All of these factors increase the risk of a downturn in the exporting of Chinese APIs.

Even so, LookChem still believes that the position of Chinese APIs will not be replaced in the global market in the short term. In China, there are more than 7,100 registered pharmaceutical production enterprises, with 4,000 more companies having obtained GMP certificates. There are also 1,600 more API industries that have registered with the SFDA and have the capacity to produce more than 1,600 products among 2,000 kinds of APIs. The number of API products which have obtained GMP certificates has now exceeded 3,700. At the same time, China's API market share occupies over 18% in the global market, ranking the first, while the generic APIs market share has reached above 35%. The international market still has rigid demand when compared with the Chinese API market, with many bulk drugs having some certain price advantages, including vitamin, penicillin, citric acid, antibiotics and acetaminophen.

Lianyungang Jinkang Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. is a professional company focused on pharmaceutical raw materials. In the environment of an inactive international market, this company is the one among the few large pharmaceutical raw material companies who have made its way into the international market, with the help of LookChem. It has been the largest supplier in European and American markets of calcium folinate, mesna, irinotecan, and gemcitabine, and its Pemetrexed Intermediate has obtained American patent licensing.

Zhejiang Aofutuo Chemical Co., Ltd., founded in 1993, is a national high-tech enterprise built on fine chemical products' R&D, production and management (mainly pharmaceuticals, pesticide intermediates). Dai Feng, General Manager & Chief Engineer, has been devoted to changing the status quo of Chinese agricultural chemicals, focusing on their development and the over-dependence on importing, with the aim of creating benefits for the Chinese people. After Mr. Dai lead the group to develop the new soil nitrating inhibition product – Nitrapyrin – the company has become the second enterprise after Dow Chemical to produce Nitrapyrin with a large-scale production capacity, which has been one good example of the growing strengths of China's pharmaceutical raw materials market.

There are many other pharmaceutical API enterprises who cooperate with LookChem. LookChem, being greatly concerned with the pharmaceutical APIs industry, has greatly promoted Chinese APIs to the international market. This chemical platform has helped enterprises to adapt to the national industrial transformation, including upgrades and high value-added exporting policy adjustments. It has also used funds to accelerate the construction of international APIs projects. Cooperating with foreign buyers, it has an in-depth understanding of the international market, and has lead the domestic suppliers to research the newest information and technological trends to develop high-performance & low-cost green products. It has also helped the industries to form the core competitiveness and build their own products and brands specifically for their own target customers.

At the same time, LookChem has assisted the domestic pharmaceutical API industries to establish a marketing network suited for the international development of products, and perfect the product supply chain. This has helped enhance the international reputation of the industries and their products, and accelerated the pace of international certification. All of these help promote the internationalization and development of Chinese pharmaceutical APIs.

Currently, the Chinese pharmaceutical APIs market, although being struck to some certain extent, still has opportunities, and this is also another chance for the APIs industry to raise their strength. As for LookChem, for having always been optimistic about the pharmaceutical APIs market, will make all its efforts to increase the market share in this domain.

SOURCE LookChem