The Dominican Republic ranks fifth among the countries in the region and first in the Caribbean that export pharmaceutical products to various destinations, according to the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC).
Above are Brazil (26%), Mexico (22%), Argentina (10%) and Chile (9%), countries that concentrated more than 60% of the total value of regional exports of pharmaceutical products in the 2018-2020 period .
In this period, the main destinations for pharmaceutical exports from Latin America and the Caribbean are the region itself and the United States, which absorbed 46% and 25% of the total value of shipments in the 2018-2020 period, respectively. However, shipments to both markets have had a different evolution in the last decade, details ECLAC.
While in the 2018-2020 period, exports to the region fell 19% compared to the 2010-2012 triennium average. Those directed to the United States increased 27%. This is mainly due to the reorientation of Mexican and Dominican exports towards that market.
According to the report “Perspectives of International Trade in Latin America and the Caribbean”, in search of a resilient and sustainable recovery, the export dynamism of the region in the medical devices sector is explained almost entirely by the performance of Mexico (67 %), Costa Rica (21%) and, to a lesser extent, the Dominican Republic (7%), which accounted for 94% of the total value of shipments between 2018 and 2020.
It adds that the exports of these three countries come mainly from transnational companies that have established manufacturing plants in them and that use abundant imported inputs.
The document adds that, in 2020, 89% of regional exports of medical devices went to the United States, while just 2% went to the region itself. This highlights that the presence of important production centers of transnational companies does not necessarily guarantee regional productive autonomy, since decisions about the destination of this production are made in the headquarters of these companies.
In 2020, the region’s top medical device suppliers were the United States and China, with very similar shares: 33% and 32%, respectively.
In the context of the pandemic, China’s share of regional purchases more than doubled in just one year, from 14% in 2019. Only 4% of regional imports in 2020 came from the region itself, says ECLAC.
ECLAC explains that regional exports of medical devices show a high concentration by products. It highlights that the two main exported products (instruments and devices not covered elsewhere, and syringes, needles, catheters and similar products) accounted for 62% of the total value of shipments in 2019.
The region’s export profile is concentrated in low and medium complexity products, and there is a deficit in the segment of high technology intensity products.
In addition, the disruptions that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused in the supply of medicines, active ingredients and medical devices have highlighted the vulnerability that the high dependence on extra-regional imports creates for the region.
In this context, ECLAC considers that since 2020 multiple initiatives have been put into practice aimed at promoting the local production of vaccines, mechanical ventilators and personal protective equipment.
These efforts have generally been channeled through association mechanisms between private companies, universities, research centers, public institutions, and extra-regional pharmaceutical laboratories.
