[Newsmp] In May, monthly exports of pharmaceutical products once again exceeded $1 billion.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced on June 1 that bio-health exports among the 15 major industries reached $1.5 billion in May, up 24.6% year-on-year.
With a double-digit growth rate for five consecutive months since January, it was the fifth highest among the 15 industries, after petroleum products (107.2%), ships (44.8%), computers (29.1%), and steels (26.9%).
The proportion of bio-health in all industries, which exceeded the 3% mark at $1.892 billion in December of last year and decreased to $1.26 billion, or 2.2% in April, slightly rose to 2.4%.
The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy explained that demand for PCR kits is dwindling as the number of new COVID-19 confirmed cases worldwide have decreased, but it hit a record high owing to OEM production orders for biomedicals and strong sales of existing medical devices and biosimilars.
In particular, it is evaluated that exports of pharmaceuticals are showing a robust trend, centering on biosimilars, which maintain a stable market share in advanced markets.
By region, exports to the US jumped 40.6% year-on-year to $130 million, and exports to the Middle East also recorded double-digit growth.
Pharmaceutical products, which are also considered one of the top five consumer products in the bio-health sector, achieved exports of $10.34 billion in May with a growth rate of 71.0%.
This is the highest growth rate among the top five consumer products, and exports, which had been pushed back by agricultural products and cosmetics, also returned to the first place.
It has been two months that pharmaceutical products have exceeded $1 billion since March when it reached $1.164 billion.
The pharmaceutical field, which recorded exports of $10.96 billion with a growth rate of 12.7% in December last year, has continued to grow with double-digit growth rates for the sixth consecutive month.
Nevertheless, in April, the growth rate exceeded 30% due to the base effect but the exports were $676 million, the lowest since $658 million in October last year.
However, except for one time in April, the exports growth has been maintained at a steady double-digit growth rate of more than $900 million.
This is a different trend from the pharmaceutical products (HS30) compiled by the Korea Customs Service and the medicinal and pharmaceutical products (SITC54) by the Korea International Trade Association.
The exports of HS30 and SITC54, which leaped at $1 billion side by side last year, have plummeted since then, and HS30 has decreased to $400 million in April, and SITC54 barely maintained the $200 million mark in April.
