“Driven by a relatively high growth in recent years plus a big population of over 90 million, Vietnam's pharmaceutical market has huge potential for traders and investors,” said Ms Hoang Thanh Mai, Deputy Director of Information & Advertising Management Department under the Drug Administration of Vietnam (Ministry of Health) at the recent Vietnam - India Business Meeting. The event was held by the Ho Chi Minh City Branch of the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI-HCM) in cooperation with the Indian Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (PHARMEXCIL) under the support of the Consulate General of India in Ho Chi Minh City.
India established an official presence in the Vietnam’s pharmaceutical market in 1990 and has become the second largest drug supplier for Vietnam, only after France. India is strong at science, engineering and pharmaceutical industries. Indian popular pharmaceuticals include veterinary, cancerous and dermatological cures, which are exported to many countries across the world, including Vietnam. In addition, India is also a leading exporter of vaccines and medicinal inputs to Vietnam.
In her opening keynote, VCCI-HCM Deputy Director Vu Thu Hang said Vietnam's pharmaceutical industry was seen to have a constantly rapid growth rate in the past years, expected to rise approximately 16 per cent a year in the 2015-2020 period. Meanwhile, India is very strong at science, engineering, technology, and pharmaceutical, cosmetic and chemical industries. Therefore, the Vietnam - India pharmaceutical trading will bring great opportunities for their business communities to share and acquire more experience from partners to apply in their businesses. They can also seek new potential partners and establish long-term partnerships.
Indian Consul General to Vietnam, Ms Smita Pant, said the Consulate General of India has regularly promoted and strengthened trade exchanges for Vietnamese and Indian businesses, especially in the pharmaceutical industry, in order to support each other on human resources development, research, production technology as well as new initiatives in this sector. She added that India is increasing its import of active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) from other countries while Vietnam is India’s largest pharmaceutical market in Southeast Asia and fully qualified for being a major API supplier for the Indian pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, the two countries should reinforce cooperation to become leading partners of each other in this field.
Ms Hoang Thanh Mai noted that Vietnam had 7,630 effective foreign medicine registrations as of March 14, 2016, including 2,814 registered by Indian companies. Besides, Indian companies supply special drugs at affordable prices. Regarding the potential growth of the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market, she added that the domestic pharmaceutical market has continuously developed with a steady growth over the past years. For example, Vietnam’s total drug value increased from US$1,900 billion in 2010 to more than US$3,436 million in the first 10 months of 2015. Spending on drug per capita rose from US$21 in 2010 to nearly US$38 in the first 10 months of 2015.
These figures show that Vietnamese people are paying more attention to healthcare. Driven by a relatively high growth in recent years plus a big population of over 90 million residents, Vietnam's pharmaceutical market is hugely potential for traders and investors. Nevertheless, the Vietnamese pharmaceutical industry is faced with numerous difficulties, particularly when most of in medicine and medicinal materials producers are foreign-invested. Besides, drugs made by foreign firms are the majority. Hence, in spite of being a potential market, Vietnamese drug makers have not been able to take advantage and promote its position. This is a "bottleneck" that Vietnam pharmaceutical industry should quickly remove to effectively integrate into the global playing field.
My Chau
Vietnamese
