Pharma product imports soar

The imports of medicines, pharmaceutical products and intermediate goods have been on the rise despite significant domestic production for local and overseas markets, market insiders said.
The increase in imports is attributed to the rising health hazards and critical diseases among people in recent years, said experts.
The imports of the pharmaceutical products and their intermediate goods have surged by 30.1 per cent during the first four months of the current fiscal year to the tune of US$146.7 million from that of $112.8 million in the same period last FY2024, Bangladesh Bank (BB) data show.
On the other hand, export of the pharmaceutical products grew by 4.38 per cent to US$69.85 million during the July-October period compared to $66.92 million in the corresponding period last fiscal, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) data reveal.
Market insiders said Bangladesh imports mostly life-saving drugs from overseas suppliers, with China, India, Belgium, South Korea and USA as key main suppliers.
Bangladesh is the home of nearly 150 pharmaceutical companies while the domestic market is valued at about US$3.32 billion.
More than 90 per cent of the medicines are supplied by the domestic companies while the remaining is imported from different countries. However, local medicine manufacturers import raw materials and intermediate goods from overseas countries.
In FY2015-16 the import volume was only Tk 9.38 billion which rose to Tk 11.60 billion in FY2017, Tk12.52 billion in FY2018, Tk 12.31 billion in FY2019, and Tk 12.76 billion in FY2020.
However, during the coronavirus outbreak in 2019 and onwards, import of medicines, pharmaceutical products and intermediate goods jumped to Tk 24.74 billion in FY2021 and to a staggering Tk 58.82 billion in FY2022.
During the pandemic, the government imported mostly vaccine and pharmaceutical products to weather the outbreak of the deadly virus. Soon after the pandemic's impact diminished, the import declined to Tk 17.59 billion in FY2023.
However, it started to swell again from the FY2024 which recorded a spending of Tk 20.30 billion for pharmaceutical products, BB data show.
Health expert Dr Rashid-e-Mahbub told the FE that a rise in critical diseases including cancer, heart, kidney conditions might contribute to a surge in the import of life-saving drugs.
He said since local manufacturers are almost entirely dependent on imported raw materials and intermediate goods, imports are growing.
The Volza, a global strategic export-import data and information providers, showed that Bangladesh imported 11,193 shipments of pharmaceutical products from March 2023 to February 2024. These imports were supplied by 1,116 foreign exporters to 2,976 Bangladesh buyers, reflecting a growth of 38 per cent compared to the preceding twelve months.
According to Volza's pharmaceutical import data, there are a total of 4,634 pharmaceutical importers in Bangladesh, who import goods from 2,526 suppliers globally.
From March 2023 to February 2024, 2,976 importers were active with Incepta Pharmaceuticals Limited, Standard Chartered Bank and Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd accounting for 43 per cent of total pharmaceutical imports.
Incepta Pharmaceuticals Limited is the leading pharmaceutical importer in Bangladesh, making up 15 per cent of the total with 268 shipments.
Following closely is Standard Chartered Bank, with a 15 per cent share of the total with 263 shipments. Incepta Pharmaceuticals Ltd occupies the third spot, making up 13 per cent of the total with 224 shipments, the Volza's data showed.
Other importers, including Radiant Pharma, Square Pharma, ACI Pharmaceuticals, UniMed UniHealth, and Synovia Pharma, bring in various products to meet market demands.
Zahangir Alam, director at the Square Pharma, told the FE that although many cancer drugs are being manufactured in recent days, Bangladesh still relies on overseas drugs for treating critical patients.
"We import raw materials and intermediate goods at a massive scale which may have an impact on the rising import trend," Mr Alam said.
Dr Sheikh Zahir Raihan, chairman of the Department of Clinical Pharmacy and Pharmacology at Dhaka University, told the FE that they do not have any study on the import of the pharmaceutical products.
"But since critical diseases relating to kidney, cancer, heart and diabetics have been rising every year, the demand for medicine and pharmaceutical products is growing," he said.

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