Medicine exports make big turnaround in last quarter

http://www.thefinancialexpress-bd.com/2009/08/06/75430.html

Medicine exports make big turnaround in last quarter

Md Fazlur Rahman

The country’s medicine export made a turnaround in the last quarter of the just concluded financial year as the manufacturers shook off the effects of the global recession to explore new markets across the globe.

Shipments of pharmaceutical products bearing made-in-Bangladesh tags grew 6.21 per cent to US$45.67 million in the fiscal year ended in June, overcoming a minus growth of around 16 per cent in the first nine months of the year.

Although the figure is eight million dollars short of the target, manufacturers said they came back strongly in the last quarter and posted higher growth at a time when the overall export recorded the slowest growth since the 2002-03 fiscal.

The Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) said last financial year’s shipment was the highest since the country started exporting medicines in mid-1990s. Last year the country shipped $43 million worth of drugs.

General secretary of the Bangladesh Association of Pharmaceuticals Industries (BAPI) Abdul Muktadir said the revival was due to surge in orders from western buyers.

“Initially the exports were lower due to falling demand from many importing countries who have been hard hit by the recession. But now the order is increasing day by day,” he told the FE.

“The buyers held back their orders due to plunge in consumer spending at home. But in the last few months we see many buyers are placing bigger orders. They are also impressed with the quality of our products,” he said.

Mr Muktadir, also the managing director of the country’s third largest drug maker Incepta Pharmaceuticals, said export would grow significantly in the next five-six months, as global economy shows signs of bottoming out from the worst recession in six decades.

A hefty revival of export fortunes also prompted some top manufacturers to spend heavily in new factories and up-gradation of the existing facilities.

The country’s largest drug maker Square Pharmaceuticals last week said it would invest nearly Tk6.00 billion in new production facilities to cater to increasing demand at home and abroad.

On Tuesday another leading manufacturer Acme Laboratories said it would build a Tk2.00 billion plant, which would comply British standards, to get a slice of the multi-billion dollars export market.

Others including Incepta, Renata, Drug International and Eskayef have already set up new and most-modern facilities in an effort to capture markets abroad.

Mr Muktadir said several other local pharmaceutical companies were planning to cash in on the increasing demands from importing nations, especially countries where Bangladesh faces fewer shipment restrictions.

“Many companies I know are investing or planning to invest to expand their business. They are bullish about export markets and the future of the industry,” he said.

He said exports would have been far higher had the government fixed basic infrastructure like power and gas.

“The investors are still weary as the energy crisis is hampering their daily production. The government should come up with an urgent solution to find a way forward on the energy issue,” he said.

Bangladesh exported products worth US$15.57 billion in 2008-09, up 10.31 percent than the previous financial year, according to data released by EPB.

Posted in Economic Growth/GDP/Exports and Foreign Trade, Emerging Industries, Pharmaceutical Industry/Healthcare