The export volume of pharmaceutical products in 2022 amounted to $1.3 billion, stems from data from the Federal Customs Service (FCS), which informed on the partial resumption of the publication of customs statistics. This is 51.7% less than last year, when exports of pharmaceutical products amounted to $2.7 billion.
The nomenclature of products of foreign economic activity indicates that the list of pharmaceutical products includes drugs, vitamins, dietary supplements, medical devices and other goods.
RNC Pharma development director Nikolai Bespalov, in a conversation with RTVI, linked the fall to the almost complete halt in the supply of coronavirus vaccines to foreign markets. In 2021, according to RNC Pharma, these products accounted for the bulk of exports, their volume amounting to 78.4 billion rubles. outside the EAEU countries. In 2022, the situation with the coronavirus has stabilized, so the need for a vaccine has decreased, says Nikolay Bespalov.
In addition, the expert continues, since 2014 a significant part of the export of Russian medicines has been to Ukraine, in particular to the DPR and the LPR. Last year, these territories became part of Russia, so the supply of goods is no longer considered an export. It can also be associated with a drop in the indicator, summarizes Bespalov.
Imports of pharmaceuticals, according to the Federal Customs Service, amounted to $16 billion, up 16.3% from a year earlier. According to RNC Pharma, the number of countries from which shipments originated has not changed. However, as RTVI previously reported, due to logistical issues, distributors have had to alter their supply chains.
The FCS stopped publishing import and export statistics in April 2022. This decision has been accepted “in order to avoid erroneous estimates, speculation and discrepancies in terms of import deliveries” and was positioned as a temporary measure.
