China's Packaging Machinery Market Research Report - PMMI

14.4 The Pharmaceutical Industry
The Summary of China’s Pharmaceutical Industry
Since the enforcement of the open and reform policy, China’s
pharmaceutical industry has made great achievement in chemical medicine,
Chinese herbal medicine, biological products, medical equipment,
sanitary materials, medicine-producing machinery, and medical packaging
industry. The annual increasing rate of China’s pharmaceutical industry
is 17.6% during 1978~1999, far above the overall national industry
increasing rate of the same period.
At present, there are 6,391 companies in the pharmaceutical industry,
which are producing 1,300 types of chemical medications, totaling 360
thousand tons, ranking second in the world. The Pharmaceutical business
has also taken shape: there are 16,518 medicine wholesalers and 63,850
retailers. According to the State Economics & Trade Committee, China’s
pharmaceutical commodity realized a total turnover of RMB 122 billion
and profit RMB 11 billion in 1999. And there are 24 enterprises realizing
profits of over 100 million. The top three pharmaceutical companies are:
Tianjin Pharmaceutical Corp, 999 Corp, and Sino-US Pharmaceutical Ltd.
And 22 realized their turnover of RMB one billion, which are: Shanghai
Pharmaceutical Corp, 999 Corp, and China Pharmaceutical Corp.
The most recent development in China’s pharmaceutical industry as of September,
the industry has had a turnover totaling RMB 170 billion with an increase of 23%
and a gross increase of 25%, higher than 13% the national average rate. And the
commercial pharmaceutical turnover is RMB 113 billion with a comparative
increase of 15.4%. The regional gap of the pharmaceutical distribution has become
wider: The overall market is more concentrated in the Eastern coastal areas,
especially the provinces of Zhejiang, Jiangsu, Shanghai, Guangdong, Shandong, and
Beijing which cover 60% of the national pharmaceutical market. It is estimated
that the industry will reach a total turnover of RMB 230 billion, a commercial
turnover of RMB 150 billion, total value of import & export of RMB 630 million
(import RMB 400 million), and the total profit of RMB12~13 billion.
The Impact on the Pharmaceutical Industry After China’s Entering WTO
Restricted by a series of non-tariff factors such as the European and US technology,
security criteria, and export quota, China’s pharmaceutical products faced such a
grave situation in 1999 that imports increased sharply while the export of medication
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