The opportunity of the Latin American medical machinery market has quietly come down and is expected to become a new export market in China

The Business Club reported on January 19 that the Latin American economy has generally recovered well and its overall momentum is upwards. It is expected to become a new export market for medical devices in China, and its growth space is very broad.

The South American countries represented by Mexico, Brazil, Chile, and Venezuela have enjoyed rapid economic development in recent years. The Latin American region has now become a major new impetus for world economic growth. There are 41 countries in Latin America, including the Caribbean countries, with a total population of about 500 million people. It is understood that about 23 countries (mostly island countries) in Latin America do not implement the medical device management system. These include Angela, Andean and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Dominican Republic, San Salvador and others. For these countries, except for some British colonial countries, medical device exporters can export medical device products to the country as long as they register their products in the local health department. The other 18 Latin American countries (whose total population accounts for about 90% of the total Latin American population) have basically formulated their respective medical device product management systems. These countries include Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Puerto Rico, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

By the way, the Paraguayan government authorities just started to formulate a draft management system for imported medical device products last year. Compared with Europe and the United States, the medical device management system in Latin America is relatively loose. Even in Latin America, such as Brazil and Mexico, its medical device import management system is far less stringent than its northern neighbor, the United States. Since Latin American major economies such as Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Venezuela, and Chile have enjoyed good national economic development in the past 10 years, their medical and health departments have sufficient funds to import medical device products, so hospital equipment and commonly used device products are imported. The number has greatly increased. The Latin American market has now become a new export hot market for international medical device manufacturers. According to relevant reports from foreign media, the author now summarizes the medical device market in eight major Latin American economies in 2010.

According to a material disclosure by Datamonitor, an internationally renowned consulting company, the total GDP of eight Latin American major economies will total US$4.2 trillion in 2010. It is approximately 2.8 times that of Africa and 40% of Asia (excluding Japan). The total population of the eight Latin American countries is 484 million. After experiencing the impact of the international financial crisis from 2007 to 2008, the major economies in Latin America have enjoyed a sound recovery of the national economy. GDP has generally risen by 1 to 3 percentage points. In particular, Colombia, its GDP during the international financial crisis in 2008 fell by nearly 3 percentage points, after two years of adjustment, the national economy has now returned to the level of 2007, and a slight increase. The Latin American mineral-producing countries such as Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela and Chile, and the oil-exporting countries have enjoyed good economic growth. Mexico has become the largest importer of medical devices in Latin America. Followed by Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Argentina and Chile. Although Brazil is the largest country in Latin America, the total amount of imported medical devices in the country in the past few years is only a little more than half that of Mexico.

Argentina

Argentina experienced a domestic economic crisis in 2002. Its national currency, peso, once fell to 8 to 9 pesos for a dollar. However, after several years of recovery, the Argentine peso’s exchange rate with the United States in 2010 was restored to the level of 10 years ago, ie, a US dollar exchange of 3.9 pesos. The medical device industry in Argentina is relatively weak, so most of the device products need to be imported from overseas. It is estimated that Argentina’s medical device market is between 500 million and 600 million U.S. dollars, equivalent to 1.9 to 2.3 billion pesos.

Brazil

Brazil is the largest populous country in Latin America and the most developed country in the region. Brazil's medical device market in 2010 total sales of 2.631 billion US dollars, second only to Mexico, ranking second in Latin America. Brazil has a relatively comprehensive medical device industry, so the number of imported medical devices is smaller than that of Mexico. The growth rate of Brazilian medical device products has exceeded 28% for three consecutive years, indicating that the medical device industry in the country is highly export-oriented.

Chile

Chile’s GDP per capita is the highest in Latin America (about US$6,000), so the government’s funds for importing medical device products are abundant. In 2010, the country’s health department imported a total of 453 million U.S. dollars worth of medical equipment and equipment, and it is a major medical device import market in Latin America.

Colombia

Colombia is the third most populous country in Latin America. Its national economic output will reach 250 billion U.S. dollars in 2010. However, the level of the medical device industry in the country is not high, so the medical device products required by the medical and health department are mainly imported. It is estimated that the total amount of imported medical equipment in Colombia will reach USD 602.3 million in 2010.

Mexico

Mexico is the leading “leader” in the medical device market in Latin America. Because in 2010, the total value of the medical device market in the country was as high as 2.7 billion U.S. dollars, even more than in Brazil where the population is much larger (Note: the population of Brazil is 186 million, while Mexico is 106.9 million). The biggest difference between the two is that Mexico’s medical device products mainly rely on imports (mainly American products), while Brazil is basically self-sufficient. Only high-end diagnostic equipment such as CT and MRI need to be imported from abroad. import. Since Mexico joined the North American Free Trade Area more than ten years ago, medical equipment produced in North America, including the United States and Canada, can enter the Mexican market unimpeded, resulting in the unification of American products in the Mexican medical device market today. situation.

Peru

According to foreign reports, the total size of Peru's medical device market in 2010 was 229 million U.S. dollars, and it became the "bottom country" of the eight major Latin American economies. However, the Peruvian medical device market is the fastest growing market in Latin America. According to statistics, the import growth rate of the Peruvian medical device market has exceeded 10% for three consecutive years. As Peru is a major country for exporting minerals, it is not affected by the international financial crisis, and its 7.6 million people are all included in the national medical insurance. The implementation of universal medical insurance has laid the foundation for the country's medical and health departments to expand imports of medical device products.

Venezuela

Venezuela is a major oil exporter in Latin America. Due to soaring oil prices in the international market in recent years, the Venezuelan government holds a lot of oil dollars. It is understood that in 2010, Venezuela imported a total of 786 million US dollars worth of medical device products, second only to Mexico. However, the population of Venezuela is less than one third of the latter. From this we can see that Venezuela should rank No. 1 in Latin America if the per capita amount of imported medical equipment is calculated. In the future, China's medical device manufacturers should increase their efforts in developing markets such as Venezuela and Latin America and strive to export more products to the Latin American market.

Cuba

Cuba has a total population of 11.25 million and ranks first among many island nations in the Caribbean. Although the area of ​​Cuba is small, its industrial output value approaches South America such as Colombia. Due to the long-term economic blockade imposed by the United States, Cuba only possesses primary medical device production capabilities, and most of the equipment still needs to be imported from overseas. Cuba has good relations with Venezuela and other Latin American oil rich countries. Last year and this year, Venezuela has provided a large amount of Cuban oil to Cuba for two consecutive years, while Cuba has returned to Venezuela in terms of medical device products and the dispatch of medical teams. Cuba has a higher medical standard. As the United States severed any economic ties with Cuba, the high-end CT, MRI and other equipment required by Cuba are basically from EU countries. The relevant parties estimate that Cuba’s medical device market is roughly US$300 million, of which imported products account for about 20%. As a friendly country in our country, last year the Cuban government received a long-term, low-interest loan of US$350 million from the Chinese government, some of which was used to pay for the import of medical device products in China.

According to Datamonitor Consulting, the average growth rate of the eight major Latin American economies in the medical device market between 2008 and 2013 will reach 4.6%. By 2013, the value of the medical equipment market in these eight countries will reach US$9.2 billion or more. In short, Latin American countries’ current national economy generally recovers well and the overall momentum is upward. The Latin American market is expected to become a new export market for China's medical device industry, and its growth space is very broad.