China may end India's drug trade dominance

 05-Jul-16, Sputnik  

Amid a slowdown in overall exports in the last two years, India is making steady progress in the export of drugs around the world. India's Commerce & Industry Ministry said in a statement, "India's pharmaceutical exports continued their lead over China in 2015. While India's Pharma exports grew from US $11.66 bln to $12.54 bln in 2015 recording a growth of 7.55%, China increased its exports of Pharma products from US $6.59 bln to US $6.94 bln, showing growth of 5.3%."

Image: Pixabay

However, experts warn that this trend will wane if Indian pharmaceutical firms continue to depend on Chinese raw materials.

Prof Sachin Chaturvedi, Director General of the Research & Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), told Sputnik, "there will be a major threat to Indian pharmaceuticals from China in the near future because, you see, the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) on which we are crucially dependent come from China. This is an issue which is not just of trade alone, because tomorrow whatever happens with the import of Chinese APIs will affect the Indian market and India's ability to supply drugs. Mind it that this is also an important item on our export basket."

 Read the full article  

 Insights