Russian medicine imports down 14% in 5M
MOSCOW. June 6 (Interfax) - Russia imported $3.317 billion worth of various medicines in January-May 2014, down 14.3% year-on-year, the Federal Customs Service (FCS) said.
Imports from countries outside the CIS were down 14.9% in 5M at $3.268 billion, while imports from CIS countries surged 58.4% to $48.8 million.
Russia imported $29.7 million worth of antibiotics, down 23%. Imports from non-CIS countries were down 28.8% at $26.4 million. The CIS exported $3.3 million worth of products to Russia, up 130% year-on-year.
According to the FCS, pharmaceuticals imports have been declining since the beginning of the year. In January, medication imports fell 19%, and antibiotic imports - 28%, while these figures were 24% and 34.6%, respectively, in January-February. Last year, pharmaceutical imports grew as a whole.
Nikolai Demidov, the head of marketing company IMS Health in Russia and the CIS, has said imports demonstrated decline for two reasons. First, there was a flu epidemic in Russia in the first half of last year, which is why foreign companies imported more medicines then.
Additionally, imports are affected by decline in the growth rate of the Russian pharmaceuticals market. Demidov said that because of this, foreign pharmaceuticals companies are lowering import volumes and reviewing their policies for managing stocks of medicines.