Monthly exports of pharmaceutical products have returned to the $700 million mark in half a year, but the deficit is snowballing as imports soar.
According to the report from the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), monthly exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products (SITC54) in September amounted to $716.5 million, recovering to the $700 million mark in six months since March.
However, last year’s pharmaceutical products exports rose sharply in July and August and after the second wave of COVID-19 in September, this year’s September exports declined 2.1% from the same period of last year.
In July and August, despite staying at the $600 million mark for the second consecutive month, cumulative exports in the third quarter have returned to the $2 billion mark at $2.0345 billion, due to exceeding $700 million in September.
Despite maintaining double digits in July and August year-on-year, the quarterly exports growth remained single-digit at 8.8% as it was negative in September.
Thanks to the momentum in the first quarter, which recorded a growth rate of more than 70%, the cumulative increase in exports for nine months reached 25.9%. During this period, cumulative exports amounted to $6.23654 billion, exceeding $6 billion.
While exports of pharmaceutical products have slowed since the second quarter, imports have increased significantly as COVID-19 vaccination boosted.
In July, pharmaceutical imports surpassed $900 million for the first time and soared to $1.364 billion in September, recording the highest in history, with a year-on-year increase of 92.1%.
Quarterly imports also jumped 56.1% year-on-year to $3.231 billion, surpassing the $3 billion in quarterly and $1 billion monthly for the first time.
The cumulative nine-month imports also reached $7.772 billion, up 22.8% year-on-year.
Until August, the cumulative increase in exports exceeded 30%, while the increase in cumulative imports was less than 15%, more than doubled, but in September, the gap narrowed to 3.1%p.
As imports increased significantly, the trade deficit also widened.
The pharmaceutical trade deficit, which exceeded $200 million in July and $300 million in August, soared to $662.5 million in September, surpassing $600 million for the first time. As a result, the quarterly deficit also exceeded $1 billion, $1.227 billion.
The nine-month cumulative deficit also rose to $1.535 billion, up more than 10% (11.7%) from the same period last year, but still better than the pre-COVID-19 era (about $2.5 billion in 2019), which was far above $2 billion.
