Indonesia drugmakers expect to emerge from a long period of a depressed currency to almost double industry sales this year, according to one pharma leader. An official of the Indonesian Pharmaceutical Association forecast a sales increase of 10% to 12% this year, well up from last year's 7.6% growth.
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| Kendrariadi Suhanda |
Kendrariadi Suhanda, the group's deputy secretary general, said only companies that import raw materials on a short-term basis would be hurt badly by the depreciation of the rupiah against the U.S. dollar. Indonesia relies on imports for 90% of its raw materials, mostly from China and India.
Last year's creation of universal healthcare in Indonesia has succeeded in driving down the prices of individual drugs, but Kendrariadi told the Jakarta Post that was not enough to offset the sales gains from the increased demand for medicines the new health coverage caused.
As for the deficit in raw materials, Kendrariadi said 45 years of stagnant production of raw materials are expected to be reversed as the government offers support and other incentives and regulatory changes to encourage more domestic chemical manufacturing. He said the domestic industry would need investments of more than $1 billion to build the facilities it would need to reduce its dependence on imports of raw materials.
- here's the story from the Jakarta Post