Pharmaceutical market in Vietnam: Promising future for domestic and foreign businesses

Ngày đăng: 17/07/2023

The Vietnamese pharmaceutical market is a promising playground in the Asian pharmaceutical market. With the demand for healthcare, people’s incomes are improved, along with rapid urbanization, creating favorable conditions for Vietnam’s pharmaceutical market to develop.

Vietnam pharmaceutical market is among the top growth in Asia

According to statistics of the Ministry of Health, Vietnam’s pharmaceutical market will reach more than 6.9 billion USD in 2021. BMI Research forecasts that Vietnam’s pharmaceutical market will reach 16.1 billion USD in 2026.
compound growth rate is 11% VND.

Approximately 30% of Vietnamese people buy expensive modern medicines, and this number is increasing. The size of the pharmaceutical market in Vietnam is very large with a population of more than 98 million people and an elderly population with a life expectancy of approximately 76 years.

One of the other opportunities for Vietnam’s pharmaceutical market to develop is the rapid urbanization rate. In Vietnam, the urbanization rate will reach 37% from 2020 to 2021, the urban population is approximately 36.6 million people.

Vietnam’s pharmaceutical industry system is very developed with 250 manufacturing factories, 200 import-export enterprises, 43,000 distribution companies and 62,000 wholesale and retail units.

The pharmaceutical market in Vietnam has potential but has not developed strongly

Vietnam is heavily dependent on the supply of imported medicinal herbs, of which sources from China and India account for more than 85%.

Vietnam has a tropical monsoon climate, potential for the development of medicinal plants. However, there is still no national medicinal growing area, only a few local producers are growing medicinal herbs but only a small amount of demand is met.

Vietnam’s pharmaceutical production capacity can only meet 53% of domestic demand. According to the General Statistics Office, Vietnam spent nearly $2.8 billion in 2018 on importing pharmaceuticals and increased to $4 billion in 2021.

Opportunity to participate in the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market

With the right business orientation, domestic and international pharmaceutical companies can gain many advantages when participating in the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market because there are not many competitive pharmaceutical companies.

However, the big challenge for foreign pharmaceutical companies operating in Vietnam is not being allowed to participate in direct distribution in the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market directly.
but must sell the product through domestic pharmaceutical distributors. In addition, the delay in the approval of new drugs is also a limitation.

Most pharmaceuticals still have to be imported, including raw materials, this is the current situation in Vietnam, which creates opportunities for companies to participate in the supply chain of the medical industry in general and the pharmaceutical market in particular. In order to penetrate into the Vietnamese pharmaceutical market, foreign businesses need an introduction, connection and reputation channel with domestic enterprises.

Vietnam International Medical Exhibition – Pharmedi Vietnam is the place to connect the leading prestigious pharmaceutical businesses in Southeast Asia. The event is held annually with more than 800 exhibitors, attracting many countries such as China, Germany, Japan, and Korea to attend.

In addition to the goal of connecting the medical and pharmaceutical industry, the exhibition also enhances knowledge, skills and resources through seminars and talks.
Companies operating in the field of Health, pharmaceuticals do not miss this potential event, quickly register to receive many incentives from the organizers.