Exports surge 11.2%.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) has recently announced that South Korea’s pharmaceutical market size was estimated at 24,310 billion won in 2019, up 5.2 percent from 23,117.5 billion in 2018.
The total production amount of pharmaceuticals stood at 22,313.2 billion, which is a 5.7 percent increase from 21,105.4 billion won in 2018. The average annual growth rate in the past five years was 7.1 percent, three times higher than the overall average manufacturing growth rate of 2.4 percent during the same period.
Korea’s pharmaceuticals production increased from 16,969.6 billion won in 2015 to 18,806.1 billion in 2016, 20,358 billion won in 2017, 21,105.4 billion won in 2018 and 22,313.2 billion won in 2019.
Korea’s pharmaceutical market in 2019 was mainly characterized by an increased share of finished drug manufacturing and domestic production of new drugs; a steady growth of drug exports; the growth of the domestic biopharmaceutical market and the expansion of exports focused on biosimilars; and a continued rise in drug imports.
Production of finished drug products and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) in 2019 stood at 19,842.5 billion won, (88.9 percent of the total) and 2,470.6 billion won (11.1 percent of the total), respectively.
The share of finished drug products rose 87.5% in 2015 to 86.8% in 2016, 86.2% in 2017, 87.9% in 2018 and 88.9% in 2019.
The production amount of ethical drugs among finished drug products amounted to 16,618 billion won, maintaining 80% or higher share of the total production over the last five years.
The share of ethical drugs was 83.6% in 2015, 83.6% in 2016, 83.2% in 2017, 84.0% in 2018 and 83.7% in 2019.
In 2019, 21 domestically produced new drugs yielded 235 billion won in sales, posting a year-on-year increase of 26.4%.
By company, Hanmi Pharm maintained its top position in terms of profit by earning 1,013.9 billion won, an increase of 11.7% from 907.5 billion won in 2018. It was followed by Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical Corp. with 856.1 billion won, Daewoong Pharmaceutical with 739.2 billion won, and Green Cross with 682 billion won, Celltrion with 592.6 billion won.
By product, Celltrion’s Remsima Inj. 100mg came in first with 108.7 billion won, followed by Handok’s Plavix Tab. 75mg with 95.9 billion won, and Green Cross’s Human Serum Albumin Inj. 20% with 86.4 billion won.
The export amount of pharmaceuticals increased to US$5,195.15 million (6,058.1 billion won), hitting a record high and up by 11.2% compared to US$4,673.11 million in 2018. The annual average export growth rate has remained high with 15.2% in the last 5 years.
By country, Japan was the largest drug export destination with US$575.84 million, followed by Germany with US$571.29 million and the U.S. with US$529.09 million.
In particular, exports to Switzerland (US$43.65 million→US$137.36 million) and Belgium (US$26.80 million→US$102.62 million), posted a year-on-year surge of 214.7% and 282.9%, respectively.
Growth of the domestic biopharmaceutical market and export expansion was led by biosimilars. The size of the domestic biopharmaceutical market in 2019 amounted to 2,600.2 billion won, an increase of 16.6% from 2,230.9 billion won in 2018.
Recombinant products took up the biggest share in the biopharmaceutical market with their market size surpassing 1 trillion won for the first time. Sales of recombinant products reached 1,131.9 billion (47.5% increase compared to 2018), followed by vaccines with 619.6 billion won (7.9% increase from 2018) and cellular therapy products with 78 billion won (26.2% increase).
The export value of biopharmaceuticals stood at US$1,283.18 million, down 17.7% from US$1,559.25 million in 2018. Of the total, 55.7% or US$714.19 million came from exports to Europe.
In particular, a noticeable spike was witnessed in exports to Asia (US$209.49 million, up 35% from 2018) and Latin America and the Caribbean (US$193.26 million, 49.1% increase compared to 2018).
Most of the exported products were biosimilars, which yielded US$874.52 million and accounted for 68.2% of the total biopharmaceutical exports.
The yearly average growth rate of biosimilar exports was 18.8% in the last 5 years.
Meanwhile, Korea’s pharmaceutical imports stood at US$6,907.51 million in 2019, up 6.2% from US$6,501.34 million in 2018. By country, the U.S. came in first with US$928.34 million, followed by China with US$848.66 million and Germany with US$811.49 million.
Quasi-drug production in 2019 went up to 1,657.4 billion won, a 14.5% increase compared to 2018 at 1,447.3 billion won and the highest growth rate in the last three years.
The number of manufacturers and product items also showed 14% and 8.8% increases year-on-year, with 382 manufacturers in 2019 (up from 335 manufacturers in 2018) and 2,881 product items in 2019 (up from 2,648 in 2018), respectively.
The main characteristics of domestic quasi-drug market in 2019 included spikes in the production amount of filtering respirator; and the share of top five product items comprising most of the production amount.
The production amount of filtering respirators in 2019 amounted to 207.7 billion won, an 81.4% increase compared to 114.5 billion won in 2018 and a 516.3% surge compared 33.7 billion won in 2017.
The surge is attributable to the increased needs to protect the respiratory system amid last year’s fine dust problems and other similar events.
The top five product items with the highest production performance are toothpaste products (562.8 billion won, 34.0%), medicine for internal use(346.6 billion won, 20.9%), feminine hygiene products (235.6 billion won, 14.2%), face masks (223.1 billion won, 13.5%), and bandages, adhesive plasters, and other similar articles (132.6 billion won, 8.0%).