The work of all participants in the Russian pharmaceutical market was tremendously influenced by the well-known events of the early spring, with the surge in demand in the retail and public procurement segments fading into insignificant here. What is much more important is which effect the crisis will have on the logistics, as well as how it will reshape the relations between the manufacturer and the distributor, and the distributor and the pharmacy.

In January–March 2022, Russia imported 9.6 billion rubles’ worth of veterinary drugs (customs clearance and VAT included), down 2.6% from the same period in 2021. However, the growth rate in 2021 was 6.8%. As for feed supplements, the import volume was 12.7 billion rubles, up 37% from Q1 2021. The last time the growth rates were double-digit was back in 2020 (11.5%).

In Q1 2022, the offline sales of veterinary drugs in the Russian retail market were 4.7 billion RUB (retail prices, VAT included), up 16% from Q1 2021. In physical terms, the volume was 31.5 million minimum dosage units (MDU), down 14.2% in MDUs.

From January to March 2022, Russia imported 5,200 tons of APIs worth 53 billion RUB (customs clearance and VAT included), up 23.1% in physical terms from Q1 2021. However, the growth rate in monetary terms (rubles) is –7.5%, the first negative growth rate in 10 years.

From January to March 2022, Russia imported 200.6 billion rubles’ worth of ready-made drugs (customs clearance and VAT included), up 11.5% from the same period in 2021 in monetary terms (rubles). The import of bulk drugs rose by 17.4% in rubles. In physical terms, the import of ready-made drugs was the same as one year earlier, 429.4 million packages. As for bulk drugs, the import volume was 414.5 million minimum dosage units (MDU), down 29.3% from last year.

In January–March 2022, Russian manufacturers produced 190.2 billion rubles’ worth of pharmaceutical drugs (manufacturer’s prices, VAT included), up 27% from January–March 2021. In physical terms, the production volume was 1.09 billion packages, up 1.6% from the same period in 2021. If calculated in minimum dosage units (MDU), the growth rate was 2.5%, with 20 billion MDUs produced.

From January to March 2022, the top Russian marketplaces sold RUB 338.7 million worth of veterinary drugs (retail prices, VAT included). Compared to Q1 2021, the sales increased by a factor of 2.6, with the revenue of the first three quarters exceeding that of 2020 and amounting to half of that in 2021. In physical terms, the growth rate was 72%, while the sales volume was 1.8 million minimum dosage units (MDU).

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.