Korea’s healthcare export shrinks by nearly 25% in Q1

Exports made by the Korean healthcare industry have declined almost 25 percent in the first quarter compared to a year earlier due to the low demand for Covid-19-related treatments and diagnostic devices.

According to the Korea Health Industry Development Institute (KHIDI), healthcare exports in the first quarter fell 24.2 percent on-year to $5.27 billion.

The agency said this is due to the shrinking export volume of contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) business related to Covid-19 vaccines and in-vitro diagnostic devices, amid the global community’s endemic measures.

By product, exports of pharmaceuticals and medical devices amounted to $1.9 billion and $1.48 billion in the first quarter, down 15.2 percent and 48.3 percent from the same period of last year.

Notably, the export volume of vaccine products in high demand last year declined rapidly this year.

In the first quarter of this year, the export volume of vaccine products was $100 million, down 77.4 percent compared to last year.

The decline in in-vitro diagnostic exports was also steep, with these products only reaching $330 million in the first quarter of this year, down 80.8 percent from 2022.

Exports of in-vitro diagnostic devices exports to major countries such as the U.S., Japan, and Canada showed a notable decline, with Korea exporting $190 million, $20 million, and $1 million of in-vitro diagnostic devices in the first quarter of this year, down 56.7 percent, 90.2 percent, and 99.5 percent, respectively.

However, exports of cosmetics and biopharmaceuticals increased.

Exports of cosmetics showed a slight 2.3 percent increase from $1.85 billion in the first quarter of 2022 to 1.89 billion this year.

Also, the volume of biopharmaceutical exports, which accounted for 52.4 percent of total pharmaceutical exports in the first quarter of this year, amounted to $1 billion, up 6.5 percent.

Toxins and toxoid products, such as botulinum toxin preparations, also showed high export growth after reaching $70 million, up 128.8 percent from the previous year.

"As the Covid-19 pandemic continues to stabilize and countries are easing quarantine measures, Korea’s health industry exports have been affected considerably," Han Dong-woo, a senior researcher at the KHIDI, said. "It is time to make various efforts to escape the influence of Covid-19 and create new breakthroughs in health industry exports."