Because of the excessive competition in the domestic market, more and more one-time medical device companies have fought in the international market, and some low-priced sales phenomenon has touched the "nervous" of overseas markets.
Yesterday, we learned from the China Chamber of Commerce for the Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products (hereinafter referred to as the “Medical Insurance Chamber of Commerce”) that the Trade Protection Bureau of Brazil's Ministry of Development Industry and Foreign Trade recently received an application from a local company to conduct an anti-dumping investigation against a disposable plastic syringe produced in China. And that the application materials meet the requirements.
At present, Brazil is the third largest destination country for China’s exports.
Still not sure whether to respond
According to customs statistics, in 2007 China exported 340 million disposable syringes to Brazil, an increase of 18.72% over the previous year, and the export value was 9.17 million US dollars, an increase of 75.86% over the previous year. This time, the disposable syringes targeted by Brazil include 1ml, 3ml, 5ml, 10ml, 20ml and other capacities.
Guan Yunning, director of the Legal Department of the Medical Insurance Chamber of Commerce, told reporters that because there is currently no exact information available, it is not known what specific damages will be caused to Brazil by Chinese companies’ export products. “The other party is likely to file an anti-dumping case and we are actively contacting the company.”
Guan Yunning said that at present, there are no specific statistics for companies engaged in Brazilian exports. The Medicare Association initially estimated that there are more than 20 companies. Since these enterprises are the first to encounter anti-dumping problems, they are still considering whether to respond.
"(Anti-dumping) has a large impact on companies. If they respond, they have the opportunity to retain this market, but if they don't, they will completely give up." In fact, before this, Chinese pharmaceutical companies have encountered overseas markets many times. It was an anti-dumping investigation from India, but not many companies responded actively.
Low price and low profit
“The price of products exported to overseas is indeed very low,” said Zhang Honghui, deputy secretary-general of the China Medical Device Industry Association’s Polymer Products Branch (hereinafter referred to as the “Industry Association”).
Zhang Honghui told reporters that if the price of domestic disposable syringes exceeds 0.2 yuan, the current export price is only around 0.18 to 0.19 yuan, and many companies rely on export tax rebates to obtain profits.
Xu Qiyong, general manager of Zhejiang Yusheng Medical Devices Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Yusheng Medical Devices”) told reporters that one-time medical device exports are divided into three grades: high, medium, and low. The phenomenon of low-price exports mainly occurs in small and medium-sized enterprises. In enterprises, export prices are usually 20%-30% lower than large companies. Currently, the export price of disposable syringes for Yusheng Medical Devices is approximately RMB 0.23.
A person from a one-off medical device company in Shandong told the reporter that 90% of the company's products were exported, but as the yuan continues to appreciate, export profits are falling sharply. “The export tax rebate has a 15% profit, but this money needs to wait for the relevant departments to release it. Usually, it may not be able to get the money in 3 months. Now we have not been able to increase the export price, because the competition is not so big for the company. The domestic market is also very difficult because the competition is so fierce and the profit margin is smaller."
According to industry association data, the one-off medical device market with a current market capacity of only over 3 billion yuan has accommodated more than 300 companies. The enterprises are highly concentrated and continue to suppress price vicious competition. A one-off syringe with a factory price of about RMB 0.3 was used. The price in the past two years dropped to 0.2 yuan, and the gross profit margin has also dropped from the original 40%-50% to the current negative value.
Due to the low price space in the domestic market, many companies have to switch to foreign markets. However, the same low-cost and low-profit phenomenon has caused disposable medical device companies to fall into a vicious cycle. The anti-dumping of foreign markets is even more of a stick for companies.
Shenzhen Ousida Technology Co., Ltd
