The hierarchy is the first of its kind to be made public, with the statistics institute revealing the name of the companies and their position in the ranking, but no details on the value or volume of exports.
However, ZF calculated that in the first eight months of 2011 drug exports amounted to around EUR150 million, based on the pharmaceutical exports reported by the statistics institute, minus parallel exports (imported drugs bought from Romania because they are cheaper and resold to other countries, and which are included in the statistics).
The trend of going to external markets to protect against Romanian instability started in the pharmaceutical sector back in 2010, but the multinationals behind Romanian plants also boosted their exports in 2011.
Drugs “made in Romania” reached the US through to Japan and lately managers have started to look to Colombia and Egypt, as well.
Moreover, in 2011 most companies reported higher exports and said they planned to continue to tap new markets.
“Exports are now a breath of fresh air on a market under significant financial pressure, which has experienced repeated legislative changes, where payment deadlines exceed a year and where insolvencies have been numerous. So we can definitely say exports are an extremely attractive alternative for local generic drug manufacturers,” said Bogdan Oghina, general manager of Sindan Pharma.
He refers to the liquidity problems facing the Romanian pharmaceutical market, with companies seeking solutions elsewhere.
Sindan exports to 55 countries and in the first six months of last year Sindan Pharma (the Actavis plant in Bucharest) had 30% higher imports than in the similar period of last year. According to 2010 data, the company’s share of exports to turnover was 23%. The company’s turnover was around EUR90 million.
“We intend to boost our export sales over the next few years,” Oghina also said.
Actavis wants to tap new markets as well as launch new products in countries where the company already has a presence. The new areas targeted are South America (Colombia for instance), northern Africa (Algeria, Egypt), the Middle East (member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council), as well as countries such as Thailand, Hong Kong and Greece.
“In all we intend our products to be present in 60 countries,” Oghina added.
Leader of exporters reaches 80 countries
Europharm, leader of the exporters, in turn talks about growth. Whereas last year 60% of production (by volume) went to external markets, as opposed to 43% in 2010, in 2012 exports will account for 70% of production. The biggest markets for the Brasov-based company are France and Italy, making up around a quarter of overall exports.
In all, the products reach over 80 countries. Of the exported products, the biggest turnover is fetched by Seroxat, an antidepressant, which accounts for 35% of the production of the Brasov plant. Another brand in GSK’s global portfolio manufactured in Brasov is Retrovir, used against HIV.
Europharm did not specify the value of exports, but only provided volume data.
Exports are also the new bet for pharmaceutical market leader Sanofi, which in Romania owns the Zentiva plant (formerly Sicomed), which is not yet among the top exporters.
But things could change considering that exports could reach 30% of production over the next few years. The company exports five drugs to Western European markets (Germany, the UK, Italy and Switzerland) and is planning to also export to countries such as France, Portugal, as well as the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and the Baltic states.
The only state-controlled drug manufacturer, Antibiotice Iasi, is also among the top exporters, and plans growth.
Can exports be the solution?
Although they likely neared the EUR200 million mark last year, drug exports are much lower than the over EUR1.7 billion imports. This means exports continue to be an insufficiently explored option for Romanian manufacturers. But even so, manufacturers will have to find solutions for the liquidity problems they face at home.
New names on the list of pharmaceutical exporters
The first ranking of pharmaceutical exporters to be made public by the statistics institute has revealed two new companies and, implicitly, new shareholders: Rompharm Company and Biotehnos. According to Trade Registry data, the majority shareholder of Rompharm, with 55% of the shares, is businessman Georgiev Venelin Stoyanov who in the past held shares in Labormed drug manufacturer (today controlled by Advent International investment fund).
Another company in the ranking of exporters is Biotehnos, whose shareholders are Liliana Manzatu (51%) and Ioan Manzatu (36.48%).
Professor Ioan Manzatu is known for his expertise in nuclear physics and in biotechnology research. He was for six months (in 1990) vicepresident of Romania.
The ranking of the largest pharmaceutical exporters in first eight months of 2011
|
Position |
Company |
Turnover in 2010 (mil. euro) |
Shareholders |
|
1 |
Europharm |
90.4 |
GlaxoSmithKline (UK) |
|
2 |
Sandoz* |
69.0 |
Sandoz (Switzerland) |
|
3 |
Actavis |
98.4 |
Actavis (Switzerland) |
|
4 |
Terapia |
89.4 |
Ranbaxy (India) |
|
5 |
Infomed Fluids |
23.1 |
World Fine Chemicals SARL (Luxembourg), Harprove Limited (Ireland) |
|
6 |
Rompharm Company |
17.5 |
Georgiev Venelin Stoyanov (55%), Georgiev Aida (44.733%), Serb`nescu Dominica (0.267%) |
|
7 |
Gedeon Richter Romania |
26.4 |
Gedeon Richter (Hungary) |
|
8 |
Biotehnos |
14.3 |
“Manzatu Ioan (36.488%); Manzatu Liliana (51.08%)” |
|
9 |
Antibiotice |
57.9 |
Health Ministry (53%) |
“Source: INS for the exporters ranking; ZF calculations based on data from the Finance Ministry for the turnover, Trade Registry for the shareholders”
“Note: The INS supplied only the name of the exporting company and its position in the ranking, without providing data on the value of exports; ZF published the turnover in order to give an idea of the company’s total turnover (exports and the internal market);”
“* INS data mention TMF Management SRL, fiscal representative of SC Sandoz AG; the data in the table concern Sandoz SRL”