China's pharma sales exceed $181 billion

BEIJING: Sales of China's pharmaceutical distribution industry surpassed the One trillion yuan mark for the first time, to hit 1.12 trillion yuan ($ 181.2 billion) in 2012, according to a report released by the Ministry of Commerce here today.

The industry is growing rapidly, though the pace has slowed somewhat with a the year-on-year growth of 18.5 per cent registered in 2012, the report said. The rate is 4.5 per cent lower than that of 2011.

The report shows that drug sales at the grassroots level are expanding, the retailing industry is continuing to grow, but with low levels of chain sales, and effective new service modes have appeared, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The country's pharmaceutical distribution industry will have stable growth amid a series of structural adjustments, transformation and upgrading, the report forecast.