Home ›› 29 Aug 2022 ›› Front
The country’s Pharma export witnessed a growth of over 112 percent leading to the sector achieving its annual export target for the first time in the last fiscal year.
The export fetched up to $188.78 million in the recently concluded FY2021-2022 from $89.17 million earned in FY2016-2017.
According to the available data from the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), compared to the last year the growth was 11.69 percent. In FY 21, it earned $169.02 million from exports.
The export was $135.79 million in the FY20, $130 million in the FY19, $103.46 million in the FY18 and $89.17 million in the FY17.
Industry insiders and experts say the sector has maintained growth for decades but the recent decade has been more significant as the leading companies have focused more on highly regulated markets, including the USA, the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany and the European Union.
Covid-19 has given opportunities to the companies to export more medicines as well.
Myanmar is the largest export market for Bangladeshi medicines worth $27.60 million while the Sri Lanka is the second largest for $23.21million.
The Philippines is the third largest market with $22.67 million, followed by United States with $13.43 million exports from Bangladesh.
Among other highly regulated markets, local companies export medicines worth $1.4 million to Great Britain, $833,497 million to Canada and $740,546 million to Australia.
Besides, the list has already been enriched with European countries like Germany, the Netherlands, Bulgaria, Belgium, Switzerland, Denmark, Georgia, Ireland, Italy, France, Serbia and Russia.
According to the Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA), Bangladesh has been one of the leading exporters of Remdesivir in the world.
Bangladesh has been enjoying several trade facilities, like duty-free access to international market for its drugs and patent waiver on manufacturing generic items.
Experts, however, said the medicine related to treating Covid-19 patients might account for only 3-5 percent of the total export last year.
General Secretary of Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceutical Industries (BAPI), SM Shafiuzzaman, also the Managing Director of Hudson Pharmaceuticals Ltd, said the export had been growing significantly for the last few years.
Challenges ahead
Managing Director of One Pharma KSM Mostafizur Rahman said the pharmaceuticals companies in the country had been able to draw international attention as Bangladesh is now exporting drugs to over 150 countries after meeting almost 98 percent of the local demand.
According to various global pharmaceutical data, Bangladesh is the third largest pharma exporting country in South Asia after India and Pakistan.
In addition to the regular items, export of the drugs related to the treatment of coronavirus has soared in the recent times, he added.
About the situation the country is going to face after LDC graduation in 2026, he said, the government along with BAPI, WTO representatives and DGDA had already started to formulate a plan to identify the roles of every entity.
He, however, notes that the timely measures taken by the government have also helped the sector expand its international market amid the pandemic.
“What we need to do is to give more focus on moderate and highly regulated markets,” he added.
Chairman of Pharmacology Department of BSMMU Prof Dr Sayedur Rahman said protected local market has given the local companies an economic backbone that they are being able to buy required machinery and technologies.
Besides, the companies are also hiring biochemists and pharmacists at lower prices allowing them to sell medicines at lower prices to the international market.
Availing quality generic medicine at lower prices is the main reason for the expansion of the country’s export, he explained.
According to the academician, local companies are producing some 1300 generic medicines among which 400 to 450 are exported.
“Among the medicines we are producing raw materials for only 30 medicines are to be imported. Depending on imported raw materials is the biggest challenge for the industry.
Besides, the companies have rarely any research on innovation. This will bring difficulties while adopting business out of TRIPS - Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), he added.
The preparation for not being dependent on imported raw materials and for the time when TRIPS would no longer be activated should be started from now on, the professor advised.
