As one of the bulk APIs in China's export of medicines, erythromycin has long had export volume up to thousands of tons and export amount reaching hundreds of millions of USD. The export of erythromycin in China has recently showed the situation of volume increase and price decrease, and how will the future trend be?
1/Capacity continues to increase
The production of erythromycin in China has started to largely increase at a high speed after entering the 21st century with the continuous rise of the international market's demand for erythromycin. To date, the annual capacity of erythromycin in China has reached over 10,000t, with annual production of over 6,000t.
CFDA data show that there were 17 erythromycin API production approval numbers in total (including 3 approvals for erythromycin lactobionate) by May 17, 2017.
The major manufacturing enterprises include Ningxia Qiyuan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Hubei Yidu HEC Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sichuan Neijiang Shanshan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Henan Xinxiang Huaxing Pharmaceutical Factory and Xi'an Lijun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., etc.
The production of the above enterprises accounts for about 85% of the total production in China, and that of other companies only accounts for about 15%.
Currently, the largest Chinese erythromycin API manufacturing enterprise is Ningxia Qiyuan Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., with annual capacity of over 5,000t. The company has passed the Europe COS and U.S. FDA certifications for its APIs, including erythromycin and tetracycline hydrochloride, etc., and has stable customers in dozens of countries and regions in the Europe, South America, Africa and Southeast Asia, etc., with smooth export, and with high market shares and product reputations in the international market.
Yidu HEC Company and Neijiang Shanshan Pharmaceutical Company also have relatively large capacity up to over 3,000t.
2/The export is embarrassing, with volume increase and price decrease
Erythromycin has had rapid export growth since the 21st century, and has now developed to be a bulk export variety among the macrolide antibiotics in China, with export volume accounting for about 60% of the total macrolide drugs in China.
China's export volume of erythromycin reached over 500t at the beginning of the 21st century, accounting for about 60% of the production of the corresponding year. China's export volume of erythromycin first exceeded 1,000t in 2006, accounting for nearly 30% the total export volume of macrolide antibiotics.
China's erythromycin capacity already exceeded 9,000t in 2010, with production of over 2,500t and export volume of over 1,500t; China's export volume of erythromycin reached 2,390t in 2014, with export amount of USD 167.03 million.
The erythromycin exported by China is mainly used as feed additive, and mainly exported to the Asian, African and Latin American markets, etc. accounting for about 80% of the total erythromycin export volume, however, the volume of export to the EU countries and other developed countries only accounts for about 20%.
India is the largest export market of China's erythromycin, generally accounting for about 50% of the corresponding total export volume.
China's erythromycin API imported by Indian enterprises is mostly reprocessed to the best-selling semi-synthetic erythromycin and made into preparations to obtain higher profits.
Furthermore, countries like Malaysia, Puerto Rico and Spain also account for large shares in import of China's erythromycin.
South American countries like Puerto Rico and Brazil have grown to another important export market of China's erythromycin in recent years.
Ningxia Qiyuan Pharmaceutical Company has been ranking first in export shares among Chinese pharmaceutical enterprises exporting erythromycin in recent years, accounting for about 50% in China, and Yidu HEC Biochemical Pharmaceutical and Henan Huaxing Pharmaceutical, etc. are also large exporters of erythromycin.
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