Prices Of Raw Material Dip, Small Drug Cos Breathe Sigh Of Relief, Health News, ET HealthWorld
Indore: The decline in prices of basic raw materials for drugs has given some respite to the small scale drug manufacturers Contemplating to take fresh orders but tepid exports and domestic demand have forced units to put capacity expansion plans on hold.
Prices of basic Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API) such as paracetamol, azithromycin, ibuprofen and ofloxacin among other ingredients have dropped by 15-20 per cent in the past month. Prices of paracetamol have dropped to Rs 500 a kg from Rs 800 a kg, azithromycin at Rs 10,000 a kg from Rs 11,000 a kg, ibuprofen Rs 700 a kg from Rs 750-780 a kg, according to drug manufacturers. drug manufacturer Ajay Singh Dassundi said, “There has been a decline in API’s and this has cut down our losses but industry is not able to gain much out of it due to lack of demand in the market. Exports have been poor amid lackluster demand and the domestic market has also not picked up.”
Madhya Pradesh is home to around 300 small scale drug manufacturers and 40 multinational companies. Indore has maximum drug manufacturing units about 150. Himanshu Shah, Chairman, Federation of Pharma entrepreneur MP chapter said, “We were thinking of increasing supplies hoping better demand but plans are on hold because demand is poor everywhere. Pharmaceutical industry is expected to end the financial year 2023 on a weak note.”
Estimated production by SME’s in MP is around Rs 300 crore a month, according to the Federation of Pharma entrepreneur MP trader. Another drug manufacturer Drashan Kataria said, “Most MSME players supply drugs to government agencies at a contractual prices and all of them were making losses due to high raw material prices but the decline in API’s has given some support to MSME.”
