Deputy Head of Pharmaceuticals, Cosmetics, and Appliances Chamber at the Federation of Egyptian Industries ‘FDI,’ Osama Rostom, told Daily News Egypt that the pricing policy which the government applies to set exported Egyptian medication prices is the most detrimental practice to the sector, but that is not all.
He clarified that ineffective logistics have negative effects too, since the lack of direct shipping lines that are used to transfer exported medications are what overburdens manufactories and increases their shipping costs due to depending on several shipping spots to reach external markets.
“Despite the significant Egyptian medical productive capacity which reaches about 75 countries around the world, the volume of exports is still modest,” Rostom added.
He unveiled the estimation of the pharmaceutical industry in the local market which records EGP 50bn, while the exports volume reaches about EGP 800m, medication exports do not exceed approximately one-third of that.
The government should deal with this serious problem with out-of-the-box ideas. It must search for new markets as new destinations for our medicine exports, and to put a completely new pricing policy considering the global prices in this sector, and consider the new market situation after the floatation of the Egyptian pound, declared to Rostom.
