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Importers rule the roost in the pharmaceutical market: how much did it cost Kazakhstan to import medicines?

According to the results of January-December last year, Kazakhstan produced basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations worth 171.6 billion tenge - 18.9% more in value terms than a year earlier (IPP - 121.8%).

The largest volume of production was in Shymkent (61.2 billion tenge), Almaty (43.5 billion tenge) and Karaganda (30.6 billion tenge) regions. Almaty (25.2 billion tenge) and Zhambyl region (3.9 billion tenge) were also among the top five. The top 5 regions accounted for 95.8% of the country's entire pharmaceutical industry.

At the same time, imports in the sector were quite significant. Thus, according to the results of January-November of this year, 30 thousand tons of medicines were imported to Kazakhstan for an impressive amount of 1.5 billion US dollars. The growth in physical terms was 13.5%, in monetary terms - 25.7%.

10.1 thousand tons of medicines were imported to Kazakhstan from the CIS countries, 28.2% more than a year earlier. The main suppliers were Russia (7.6 thousand tons), Belarus (1.6 thousand tons) and Ukraine* (693.2 tons).

From countries outside the CIS, 19.9 thousand tons of medicines were imported, 7.4% more than in January-November of the previous year. Here, the main exporter for Kazakhstan was China: 5.2 thousand tons of medicines, against 4.7 thousand tons a year earlier. The annual growth is 9.8%. The top five suppliers also included Germany (2.6 thousand tons), India (2.4 thousand tons), France (1.4 thousand tons) and Turkey (1.2 thousand tons).

* Ukraine has a controversial status in the CIS for a number of reasons.

The reason for such significant import figures in the sector is obvious: Kazakhstan's supply of domestic pharmaceuticals remains extremely low. For example, in January–November 2024, Kazakhstan produced only 2.8 tons of provitamins, vitamins and their derivatives, which is 27.8% less than a year earlier. The share of local production in the market remained negligible, only 1.7%, while imports covered 98.3% of needs. Over eleven months, the volume of imported vitamins amounted to 164.5 tons, 58.8 times exceeding the volume of domestic production.

The situation with antibiotics looks somewhat better, but also remains far from favorable. Domestic companies provided demand (including sales on the domestic market and export) by only 20.3%, against 31.5% a year earlier. At the same time, Kazakhstani production grew by 44.1%, reaching 17.3 tons, but imports increased immediately by 2.6 times, to 67.9 tons.

As for prices in the sector, according to the results of January of this year, pharmaceutical products increased in price by 8.6% compared to January 2023.

In regional terms, the highest annual price increase was recorded in the Karaganda region: by 14%. A slightly smaller increase was noted in Astana (10.9%), as well as in the Abay (10.4%), East Kazakhstan (10.3%) and West Kazakhstan (9.7%) regions. The smallest price increase was observed in the Zhetysu (by 4.9%), Akmola (by 5%) and Mangistau (by 6.3%) regions.

Among individual products, the most noticeable price increases were for Corvalol (by 30.7%), Canephron N (by 27.9%), Acyclovir (by 18%), acetylsalicylic acid (by 16.8%) and the multivitamin Multi-tabs Classic (by 15%). At the same time, the cost of Essentiale Forte N remained at the same level as last year, and Aqualor Forte spray even became cheaper, albeit slightly, by only 0.3%.

Investments in fixed capital in the production of basic pharmaceutical products and pharmaceutical preparations for January–December 2024 amounted to 9.2 billion tenge, 34.5% less in value terms than a year earlier.

The largest part of the investment portfolio was made up of enterprises' own funds: 8.6 billion tenge, against 9.6 billion tenge a year earlier. Bank loans accounted for 592.8 million tenge (against 1.7 billion tenge in 2023), and non-bank borrowed funds accounted for 1.1 million tenge (against 172.8 million tenge a year earlier).

In regional terms, the largest volume of capital investments was in Shymkent: 2.6 billion tenge, minus 37.9% per year. Next come Zhambyl region (1.8 billion tenge) and Almaty (1.6 billion tenge). Investments in the sector were recorded in 13 regions of the country, while pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical products were produced in 16 regions.

Источник: Казахстанский Фармацевтический Вестник, pharmnews.kz