Trade deficit for medicinal and pharmaceutical products exceeded last year’s annual deficit in five months

[Newsmp] The trade deficit for medicinal and pharmaceutical products (SITC54) was close to the $3 billion mark in five months, far exceeding the annual deficit last year.

Exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products (SITC54) have shrunk to more than 60% for the fifth consecutive month this year, according to the Korea International Trade Association.

In May, exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products fell 64.5% year-on-year, and accordingly, cumulative exports for five months were also reduced by 65.4% to $1.225 billion.

On the other hand, imports were not much different from last year. Imports in May was $725.5 million, slightly lower than the same period of the previous year, but the imports over five months rose 4.6% to $3.944 billion.

Amid an inconsiderable increase in imports, the deficit in medicinal and pharmaceutical products is surging as exports have tumbled.

The deficit in the medicinal and pharmaceutical products in May was $531.7 million, exceeding $500 million for three consecutive months, more than three times larger than $161.73 million in the same period last year.

Furthermore, the cumulative deficit for five months was $2.718 billion, 12 times the same period last year, and has already surpassed the annual deficit of $2.281 billion last year.

Meanwhile, this year’s pharmaceuticals imports and exports have shown significant deviations depending on statistics.

The 65.4% contraction of the five-month exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products (SITC54) is more than four times the negative growth of exports of pharmaceutical products (HS30) compiled by the Korea Customs Service during the same period.

Until last year, there was no significant difference in imports and exports between SITC54 and HS30. However, this year, some of the HS codes have been adjusted, showing a remarkable variance.

HS30’s exports of pharmaceutical products have also been on the decline for five consecutive months, but the negative growth rate was the largest in February, and since then, it has steadily decreased to 1.0% in May.

On the contrary, pharmaceutical products based on SITC54 plunged more than 60% for the fifth consecutive month, showing a more sluggish pattern than HS30.

In terms of value, exports based on HS30 is between $400 and $600 million per month, whereas SITC54 is between $200 and $300 million.

There is also a slight difference in imports. While HS30’s imports continued to grow at a double-digit rate for five consecutive months, imports of SITC54 decreased twice in January and May compared to the previous year.

In particular, imports in May rose 26.0% to $931.13 million for HS30, while STIC54 fell 7.9% to $725.5 million.

The cumulative imports for five-month increased from the same period last year for both codes, but the increase was close to 40% for HS30 to $4.791 billion, whereas the increase for SITC54 was only 4.6%.

The cumulative five-months deficit was $1.885 billion for HS30, which has not year reached the annual deficit of $2.011 billion last year, but SITC54 almost caught up with the annual deficit in four months and far exceeded in May.