In the first half of the year, the growth rate of imports of medical machinery fell - high-end market demand did not slow down

The global economic growth slowed, the European debt crisis deepened, the international market was in short supply, the recovery of the two major economies in Europe and the United States was difficult. In the past two years, the international economic situation was complicated, and there were a series of uncertainties and uncertainties in the domestic and foreign trade environment. It has caused a significant impact on China’s foreign trade. According to the latest statistics from the customs, in the first half of the year, the growth rate of China's medical device import and export was much lower than that of the same period of previous years. However, horizontally, the rigid demand for medical devices is still stronger than that of other industries, and the decrease in the growth rate of imports and exports is smaller than that of most industries. Overall, China's medical equipment import and export trade has maintained a relatively high growth rate, both exceeding 13%. However, under the circumstances of reducing orders and tightening international market demand, cultivating new advantages in foreign trade has become an important issue.

In the first half of the year, China’s foreign trade in medical devices continued to grow. According to customs statistics, the total import and export of medical devices reached US$13.83 billion, an increase of 14.76% year-on-year, which was 27.55 percentage points lower than the same period of last year. The increase in the volume of foreign trade in medicine in the first half of this year was 1.77 percentage points, accounting for 35.43% of the total import and export of pharmaceutical products. Among them, medical equipment imports amounted to US$5.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 15.96%, which was a decrease of 22.59 percentage points over the same period of last year; exports amounted to US$8.127 billion, a year-on-year increase of 13.93%, which was a year-on-year increase of 30.94 percentage points. From this point of view, the global economic downturn has indeed had a certain impact on the import and export of medical devices in China. However, the absolute value of imports and exports of medical devices in the first half of the year was higher than that of the same period of last year.

Slower import growth In the first half of 2012, China imported medical device products from more than 90 countries or regions. Europe, North America, and Asia were the main import source regions, and the related import amounts were 2.114 billion, 1.871 billion, and 1.543 billion U.S. dollars, respectively. The year-on-year increase was 10.66%, 22.2%, and 18.02%, respectively, accounting for 37.08%, 32.80%, and 27.07% of the total imports of medical devices in the same period in China. Although China’s imports of medical devices in these regions were higher than the same period of last year, the increase in import volume slowed down significantly, by 19.11, 14.29, and 34.68 percentage points compared with the same period of last year.

Among the countries of import origin, the United States, Germany, Japan, South Korea and Ireland are the top five importers. Among them, China’s imports of medical devices from South Korea continued to increase, ranking from the seventh place last year to the fourth place this year.

High-end market activity In the first half of the year, China's import of medical equipment ranked first in all categories of medical equipment imports, at US$4.38 billion, accounting for 76.81% of the total, indicating that medical institutions in China are in high demand for high-end medical equipment; medical supplies are imported. The demand is also relatively large, with the largest increase of 75.66% over the same period of the previous year, which fills domestic demand for high-value consumables, such as artificial pacemakers, various types of stents, and artificial joints; the value of imports of rehabilitative products has dropped significantly by 63.71%. This shows that the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan” health rehabilitation program has not yet been implemented into specific import procurement.

From the perspective of specific products, in the first half of the year, imports of high-end syringes and various catheters and other polymer products, color Doppler ultrasound diagnostic systems, CT machines, endoscopes, medical linear accelerators, and artificial joints were more than 20 varieties. Billion dollars. Among them, the imports of high-end syringes, catheters, cannulae, color Doppler ultrasound diagnostic systems, and CT machines are relatively high, at 390 million, 360 million, and 320 million U.S. dollars, respectively, and the in-vitro diagnostic reagent imports have a faster growth rate of 119.66%. %.

At present, high-end medical device products used in mainstream medical institutions in China are still dominated by imported products, so demand for high-end product imports is relatively high. Multinational corporations in China can manufacture some alternative products, but their core components still need to be resolved through intra-district trade. Domestically produced alternative products are mostly in the second-highest and mid-range due to a certain gap between safety and effectiveness.

The import value of foreign-funded enterprises was high In the first half of the year, the import value of medical equipment of foreign-funded enterprises in China was 2.263 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 21.13%, accounting for 39.69%; the import volume of medical equipment of private enterprises was 1.932 billion U.S. dollars, an increase of 20% over the same period of last year. The ratio was 33.88%; the related import value of state-owned enterprises was 1.487 billion U.S. dollars, a year-on-year increase of 5.19%, accounting for 26.08%. Six of the top ten enterprises with import value are foreign-funded enterprises.

In the first half of the first half of the year, there were 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) that imported medical device products in China. Among them, the related imports from Shanghai, Beijing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang were 2.174 billion, 1.359 billion, 586 million, and 342 million, respectively. And 179 million US dollars, accounting for 38.13%, 23.83%, 10.27%, 6% and 3.14% respectively. The top ten provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) accounted for a total of 89.91% of the total imports of medical devices, mainly concentrated in the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Bohai Bay region.

In the first half of the year, imports of medical devices were still dominated by general trade, with the proportion of related trade accounting for 65.49%, imports of processing trade accounted for 4.39%, and imports of warehousing re-exports in bonded zones accounted for 24.76%.