According to the Statistical Report on Pharmaceutical Circulation Industry issued by China's Ministry of Commerce on Sept. 6, the national sales of medical products in 2021 reached 2,606.4 billion yuan (367.71 billion USD), with a year-on-year (YoY) growth of 8.5%.1
China's Medical Product Sales from 2017 to 2021 [Data source: Ministry of Commerce]
Market Segmentation by Product Category
Among the sales of medical products, Western drugs (including chemical drugs and biological products) accounted for the highest share, followed by finished traditional Chinese medicines (TCMs) and TCM ingredients. These three combined categories amounted to 87.7% of the total sales.
As for the rest of shares, 7.8% belonged to medical devices, 0.7% to chemical reagents, less than 0.1% to glassware, and 3.8% to other medical products.
Market Shares of China's Medical Products in 2021 [Data Source: Ministry of Commerce]
Market Shares by Buyers
99.8% medical products were bought by Chinese companies and customers while only 0.2% were directly sold to overseas buyers.
Among the products sold in China, 51.01% were procured by medical institutions, followed by 27.3% purchased by wholesalers, and 20.99% by retailers and individual customers. Products sold to manufacturers accounted for less than 1%.
Buyer | Purchase amount (bln yuan) | Market share | |
Chinese buyers | A. Medical institutions (hospitals, healthcare centers, etc.) | 1,329.6 | 51.01% |
B. Wholesalers | 713 | 27.3% | |
C. Retailers and individual customers | 547.1 | 20.99% | |
D. Manufacturers | 12.6 | 0.5% | |
E. (Directly exported to) overseas buyers | 4.1 | 0.2% | |
Data source: Ministry of Commerce | |||
From 2017 to 2021, drugs sold to Chinese manufacturers / overseas buyers maintained at a share lower than 5%. In contrast, drugs sold to medical institutions remained at a high level of over 40%. Due to the volume-based procurements (VBPs) since 2018, medical institutions are expected to continue taking up the highest purchase share.
The wholesalers' purchase share dropped while retailers and individual customers' share slightly rose. Moreover, the retail channels, especially online drugstores, are predicted to grow fast with online sale to be permitted for prescription drugs from Dec. 1, 2022.
China Medical Product Market Shares by Buyers from 2017 to 2021 [Data Source: Ministry of Commerce]
