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.

The API import to Russia reached an all-time high in 2021 in both monetary and physical terms: 195.4 billion RUB (customs clearance and VAT included), or 15,800 tons. The growth rates in monetary terms (rubles) were 15.9%, the lowest in the past 5 years, and 5.4% in physical terms (tons), the lowest in the last few years as well, beside the negative -2.5% in 2018.

The vast majority of the doctors (75.3%) who took part in a survey conducted by the RNC Pharma analyst company and the platform for doctors Medvestnik believe that the abolition of internships has led to an abrupt decline in the quality of training that medical students receive.

Last year’s growth rates of the Russian pharmaceutical retail market were in line with the inflation rate. While the price index was rather impressive, in the current conditions only maintaining more or less stable figures in the market seems possible, rather than development, because in fact, the market is stagnating. Besides, even those figures were mainly the result of the growing purchasing activity in the online segment, which is still developing, primarily by luring away consumers from offline pharmacies.

In 2021, the sales of veterinary drugs in the Russian retail market amounted to 21.1 billion rubles (retail prices, VAT included), up 4% from 2020. While that seems to be a fine result, especially considering the growth rates of –0.3% in 2020, it is obvious that the inflation rate influenced the growth rates in 2021. In physical terms, the growth rates kept falling (–7.2% in monetary dosage units, or MDUs), and the total sales volume was 166.7 million MDUs.

In 2021, the retail sales of veterinary drugs through the top online marketplaces in Russia amounted to 727.6 million rubles (retail prices, VAT included), having tripled from 2020. In physical terms, the sales increased 2.5 times from 2020, if calculated in minimum dosage units (MDU). The sales volume was 5.1 million MDUs.