Demand on the rise for pharmaceutical imports

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A Ministry of Health report has revealed that each Vietnamese person spent $19.8 on medicine during 2009.

The above-mentioned figure is expected to surge to $33.8 in 2014 and the average growth rate of the domestic pharmaceutical market forecast to reach 17-19 per cent per year, the ministry said.

Market potential has been greatly influenced by imports during the first five months of the year.

The Vietnam General Department of Customs confirmed that drug import values had increased from January in terms of raw materials and medicine.

In January, the industry spent only $12.1 million on importing raw medical materials, with an increase of nearly $20 million in March and $18 million in April. During the first half of May, the figure reached nearly $10 million.

Import expenditure reached $443.2 million in four months, a year-on-year increase of 23.8 per cent.

Since the beginning of the year, imports had increased across most of the market, according to the General Department of Customs. India, France and South Korea have remained the biggest partners of Vietnam's domestic pharmaceutical industry.

Import turnover is estimated to increase after the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced that import tax would be cut from 5 per cent to 2.5 per cent during 2011-12.

The ministry predicted that, thanks to its tax cuts, the different types of drug imported into Vietnam would increase by between 10 and 20 per cent.

A plan to develop and restructure Vietnam's pharmaceutical industry is currently under compilation. The plan is set to encourage the production of popular medicine in order to cut prices, stabilise the market and reduce the country's reliance on imports.