China's International Trade of APIs in the 2020 Epidemic

2020 is a year when the global pharmaceutical industry is deeply affected by the epidemic, and it is also a year when China's API industry has withstood the test of fluctuations in the international market.

In 2020, the export value of key chemical drugs will increase by 15% year-on-year, which is 11 percentage points higher than the national average export growth rate. The export value of chemical raw materials increased by 14.9% year-on-year; the export value of pharmaceutical preparations increased by 15.2% year-on-year. In 2020, the amount of chemical imports in 2020 will drop by 1.4% year-on-year, which is 0.7% lower than the national average growth rate of imports.

In 2020, there are 37 kinds of export single varieties of many APIs and intermediates, with an export value of over 100 million U.S. dollars. Heparin sodium-based bulk medicines topped the list with a total of 1.4 billion US dollars. Its raw materials for nutritional supplements such as coenzyme Q10 and chondroitin sulfate have risen to an export scale of 100 million U.S. dollars. In the field of Antibiotics, Azithromycin, clavulanate potassium series, and chlortetracycline also jumped to 100 million U.S. dollars. Looking at these billion-dollar varieties, most of them are vitamins, nutraceuticals, food additives, antibiotics, antipyretic and Analgesics, and there are not many typical therapeutic drugs. It can be seen that the country with its advantage as an API cannot be proud of itself.

China is a major exporter of chemical raw materials. Let us start with the key categories of chemical raw materials and look at the development of the export value, export volume, and average price of each category during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period and 2020. This issue will introduce the relevant situation of anti-infective chemical raw materials and antibiotics.

Antipyretic and analgesic

Antipyretic and analgesic chemical raw materials, the export value in 2020 will increase by 6.4% year-on-year, and the volume will increase by 19.9% year-on-year. Two major export varieties of antipyretic and analgesic products:

(1) Paracetamol, an annual export of 46,800 tons, a year-on-year increase of 20.2%;

(2) Ibuprofen, with an annual export volume of more than 8,400 tons, a year-on-year decrease of 1.1%.

The figure above is a dynamic chart of the export quantity (blue column) and average unit price (red curve) of antipyretic and analgesic chemical raw materials during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period. The quantity and unit price have gone through ups and downs during the year, but from the beginning and end of the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, both the quantity and unit price have achieved overall positive growth. During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the share of the main types of antipyretic and analgesic products has changed year by year, rising and falling.

Vitamins

In 2020, the export value of vitamin chemical raw materials increased by 17.2% year-on-year, and the volume increased by 22.4% year-on-year. Its main categories, vitamin C, vitamin E, and vitamin B3 or B5, account for an increase in the amount of vitamin APIs.

Vitamin C
In 2020, the export scope of vitamin C products will be more extensive, reaching 142 countries and regions, an increase of 11 countries over the same period last year.

Vitamin C is mainly exported to the United States. In 2020, the value of vitamin C is 31.9%, and its share has increased by 10.6 percentage points year-on-year, becoming the main growth point of vitamin C exports.

Except for the United States, the remaining export share of vitamin C is relatively scattered, with 21 countries accounting for more than 1% of the value, and 48 countries with 1% (excluding) to 0.1%.

Vitamin E
In 2020, the export of vitamin E products will still mainly flow from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. These three countries account for 58.4% of the total export value of vitamin E products, a year-on-year decrease of 1.8 percentage points.

In 2020, the unit price of vitamin E exports to the Netherlands increased by 54.1% year-on-year; for exports to Germany, the unit price increased by 50.8% year-on-year; for exports to the United States, the unit price increased by 22.8% year-on-year.

The increase in the unit prices of these three items has become the main factor for the year-on-year increase in the export value of the vitamin E category in 2020.

By the end of the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the export volume of vitamin APIs (blue bars) increased by 48.3% over 2015, and the export value increased by 81%. During the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the average export unit price of vitamin APIs (red curve) showed a significant increase. After two years of regression, as of the end of the "Thirteenth Five-Year Plan" period, the average export price was 22%. increase.

Hormones

In 2020, the export value of hormone chemical raw materials increased by 11% year-on-year, and the volume increased by 17.4% year-on-year.

Cortisone has a wide range of exports and relatively scattered distribution. In 2020, exports will reach 92 countries and regions.

Cortisone's exports to India accounted for the largest proportion, with a share of 18.7%. The United States and Italy are the other two countries that account for more than 10% of cortisone exports. The United States accounts for 11.9%; Italy accounts for 11%.

For the main raw materials of hormones, the export volume during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period increased by an average of 6.4% per year. Compared with 2015, the export volume increased by 35.4% at the end of the "13th Five-Year Plan" period. "The initial decline bottomed out, and there have been adjustments to stabilize and rebound in the next three years.