At present, the risk of recession in the world economy is rising, the growth of external demand is slowing down significantly, the restructuring of the international supply chain pattern is accelerating, and the environment for foreign trade development is grim. The field of pharmaceutical foreign trade will also be affected by the complex external environment, and usher in the more fierce market competition under the global multinational localized production. In 2023, China's pharmaceutical foreign trade will move forward in the challenges and opportunities.
Unimpeded international exchanges have brought vitality to the recovery and growth
In 2023, the "going out" of enterprises will become more smooth.Since the beginning of the year, overseas medical and health exhibitions have been favored by Chinese enterprises. Local governments have intensively chartered flights to organize multiple batches of enterprises to attend exhibitions in Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia, and other places. Various chambers of commerce and associations, including the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Medical and Health Products, have also taken action to assist enterprises in conducting business exchanges abroad and inject a strong impetus for the better development of pharmaceutical foreign trade. In addition, international exhibitions held in China, such as the World Pharmaceutical Raw Materials China Exhibition and the China Import and Export Commodities Fair, will be resumed one after another. These positive factors will also promote the better development of pharmaceutical foreign trade.
Improve the policy system to stimulate the creativity of trade entities
In the field of industry, the "14th Five Year Plan" for the Development of the Pharmaceutical Industry clearly states that "comprehensive acceleration of international development" is one of the important development goals. The internationalization of China's pharmaceutical supervision is also deepening. In 2017, China's pharmaceutical regulatory department joined the International Conference on Technical Coordination for Registration of Human Drugs (ICH); In September 2021, the State Food and Drug Administration launched a pre accession application for the Drug Inspection Cooperation Program (PIC/S); In August 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that China had passed the National Regulatory Agency (NRA) evaluation of vaccines. All of these will promote China's pharmaceutical industry to further integrate with international standards and enhance the level of international development.
In the field of foreign trade, in May 2022, the General Office of the State Council issued the Opinions on Promoting the Stability and Quality Improvement of Foreign Trade, further helping foreign trade enterprises seize orders and expand the market, and supporting pharmaceutical enterprises to register and certify Chinese and Western pharmaceutical preparations and biological products in countries or regions where ICH and PIC/S members are located, as well as WHO. In the fourth quarter of last year, six departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, issued policies and measures to unblock the channels for foreign trade enterprises to seize orders, and all regions actively supported foreign trade enterprises to form groups to go to sea. On December 30, 2022, the 38th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress passed a decision on amending the Foreign Trade Law, deleting the provisions of Article 9 of the Foreign Trade Law of the People's Republic of China on the filing and registration of foreign trade operators. Cancellation of registration will help further optimize the business environment, unleash the vitality of foreign trade innovation, and promote high-quality trade development and high-level opening up.
"Belt and Road" initiative ten years "start again"
The year 2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past ten years, China and countries and regions along the Belt and Road have continuously improved bilateral and regional cooperation mechanisms, deepened economic and trade cooperation, and pharmaceutical trade has been developing steadily.
Countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road" are dominated by emerging markets, with a huge population base and market capacity. The pharmaceutical industry is relatively weak, providing many opportunities for cooperation in the medical and health field. Many domestic pharmaceutical enterprises have worked in the "the Belt and Road" market for many years and achieved excellent results.
From 2019 to 2021, the sales of North China Pharmaceutical covered 32 countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road" and obtained 328 registration certificates. The biological agent erythropoietin (EPO) successfully entered the Indonesian market. Strong varieties of antibiotics and vitamins were in great demand in the African market. Africa became the region with the highest sales coverage and the most product registration of North China Pharmaceutical; Green Leaf Pharmaceutical has achieved commercial coverage in high-potential emerging markets such as Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Europe through the use of the central nervous drug Sirikam and its sustained-release tablets; Junshi Biological has granted Hikma Company a exclusive license to develop and commercialize Treprizumab injection in a total of 20 countries and regions in the Middle East and North Africa, such as Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Morocco, Egypt, to distribute domestic innovative drugs to emerging markets; Neusoft Healthcare provides comprehensive medical diagnosis services for countries and regions along the "the Belt and Road", such as setting up a subsidiary in Dubai, providing hundreds of large-scale medical equipment, and services covering Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, etc.
The RCEP dividend continues to release
Since the RCEP took effect on January 1,2022, the institutional dividends such as tariff concessions, rules of origin accumulation and trade facilitation have brought tangible growth and benefits to the member states and their enterprises.
Influenced by the favorable factors such as RCEP implementation, many representative projects of Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises have been launched in 2022.for instance, Consino, Watson, Suzhou Abo signed an agreement with Indonesian biopharmaceutical company PT Etana Biotechnologies Indonesia, To carry out the joint development and commercialization cooperation of innovative vaccine products, such as tuberculosis vaccine, meningitis vaccine, HPV2 vaccine and mRNA therapy research and development; Wuxi plans to invest $1.43 billion in a research and production base in Singapore, Expand its overseas CRDMO (contract research, development and production) and CTDMO (contract testing, R & D and production) business models; Sinovac has invested RMB 10 bn in Singapore, Development involves opening laboratories and working with other local laboratories, He alizing in new pathogens and solutions.
