In January–February 2022, Russian manufacturers produced RUB 118.3 billion worth of pharmaceutical drugs (manufacturer’s prices, VAT included), up 16.7% from January–February 2021. The result is quite comparable to that in the same period in 2021, when the growth rate in monetary terms was 16.9%. However, the growth rates in early 2022 were far from even, with 3.8% in January and 27.8% in February.

The export of pharmaceutical drugs from Russia in 2021 reached a new all-time high in both volume and growth rates. Most of the exported drugs were vaccines, a total of RUB 78.4 billion (customs duties included, EEU countries excluded). The export volume in monetary terms (rubles) increased almost 21 times compared to 2020, with the COVID vaccines contributing to the growth rates the most, as expected.

One of the anti-crisis measures prepared by the Government of the Russian Federation is the possibility to exempt from customs duties a number of “vital goods” imported into Russia, which may include pharmaceutical drugs and APIs. Customs duties, as part of the customs clearance procedure, are the main expense item of foreign economic activity participants. In 2021, for example, the importers of ready-made drugs paid RUB 18.5 billion in total.

In 2021, Russia imported RUB 36.7 billion worth of veterinary drugs (customs clearance and VAT included), up 7.2% from 2020, hardly comparable to that in 2019. As for feed supplements, the import volume was RUB 41.9 billion, and the growth rate was 4.3%.

Pharmaceutical Retail Expected to Deal with Rush Demand and New Consumer Preferences in the Upcoming Months

In 2021, the volume of the online sales or reservation of pharmacy products (pharmaceutical drugs and parapharmaceuticals) in Russia was 210 billion rubles (end-user prices, VAT included), 52.7% up from 2020, a record both for the online segment and the whole retail. The growth rates of the whole market were significantly lower, 5.9%. A noticeable increase in the consumption of prescription drugs almost single-handedly saved the growth rates from becoming negative, since the sales of OTC drugs stagnated, and the offline sales of parapharmaceutical products, albeit positive, were significantly lower than the inflation rate.

In 2021, Russia imported RUB 787.4 billion worth of ready-made pharmaceutical drugs (customs clearance and VAT included), up 41% from 2020 in monetary terms (rubles). A higher growth rate was recorded only in 2019 (43%). As for in-bulk imports, the growth rate was 17% in monetary terms, and the volume was RUB 166.4 billion.

In 2021, Russia imported RUB 15.0 billion worth of veterinary vaccines (imports from the EEU countries excluded; prices include the customs clearance), up only 0.5% in monetary terms (rubles). Obviously, the growth rates in physical terms were negative, given the high inflation rate in the veterinary market in 2021. The total import volume was around 6.1 million packages, down 5.1%. If calculated in dosages, the growth rate was –20.5%, with 18.1 billion imported.