In the first half of the year 2012, the export growth of Chinese medical instruments is at a low run which is caused by the following factors combined together: the international market demand is not much; the world economic growth is lack of motivation; it is difficult for the recovery of the two largest economies in Europe and America. Under the influence of the many uncertainties, the growth of the import and export medical instruments in 2012 is expected to remain at about 18%.
Data from Medicines and Health Products Import and Export Chamber of Commerce shows that in the first half of the year 2012, the total exports of medical instruments rose by 14.76 percent to 13.83 billion US dollars and the growth was 27.6 percentage points lower than that in the same period of last year. The export value rose 13.9 percent to 8.13 billion US dollars and the growth was 30.9 percentage points lower than that in the same period of last year.
According to data from www.askci.com, in the first half of the year 2012, the sales value of Chinese medical instrument industry rose by 20.1 percent to 68.08 billion US dollars, in which the export delivery value of the medical instruments rose by only 3.46 percent to 17.5 billion US dollars.
The medical instruments exported from China are mainly low technology value-added products. After years of development, the export of Chinese medical instrument industry maintains a steady growth and has a considerable share in the international market. However, the main export products are low-tech, labor-intensive mid and low-end products. The quality of Chinese disposable supplies, medical dressings, massage appliances and other medical instruments is the same level as similar foreign products, but those from China have obvious price advantages. Therefore, domestic enterprises have clear comparative advantage and competitiveness in the international market.
With the advance of urbanization and the era of aging, the health care needs of the emerging economy regions and the new technology to cure chronic diseases will be the main driver of the growth in medical instrument market. Promoting the primary medical service agencies to expand their coverage and increasing the allocation and the update of the medical instruments gradually will accelerate the industry’s endogenous growth.
It can be predicted that in the future, China’s medical instrument companies will focus on the development of the medical instruments with large demand, wide application and dependence on import. Chronic disease screening, minimally invasive treatment, regeneration, digital medical, rehabilitation care and other new medical instruments will have a broad market prospect.
However, the world economy is full of uncertainties. For example, the European debt crisis is still a threat to the global economy and international financial safety; Developed countries and emerging economies are in conversion and exploratory stage of growth mode; The pace of the world economy recovery is still slow. These uncertainties Will make an adversely affect to China’s exports of medical instruments. New waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) instruction made by the EU has already come into force, so the medical equipment exports from China to the EU will face new environmental barriers. Moreover, the increase of the domestic labor costs and raw material prices will bring more uncertainties to medical instrument manufacturing enterprises in China.
