India to be 3rd largest API merchant market
Headquartered in Luxembourg, Azelis is a leading global specialty chemicals distributor providing a range of innovative products and services. The company’s dedicated team serve customers in the following industries: personal care, pharma, food & health, animal nutrition, specialty agri/horti, homecare and industrial cleaning, CASE (coatings, adhesives, sealants, elastomers) chemicals, lubricants and metal working fluids and rubber and plastic additives. Through sourcing and distribution channels in every major market around the world, the company, with its corporate service centre in Antwerp, Belgium, offers chemical producers market penetration, in-depth local knowledge, value-added services and tailored multi-territory solutions. In an email interaction with ANURAG MORE, Laurent Nataf, CEO and president, Asia-Pacific, Azelis, delves deeper into the specialty chemicals market for pharma in India and more. Excerpts:
How has the specialty chemicals market been performing in India?
The Indian pharmaceutical industry is ranked third in the world in terms of production volume and 13th in terms of domestic consumption value. The Indian pharmaceutical industry size is estimated at US$25 billion in 2015. Formulations account for 65% and bulk drugs for the balance 35% in value terms. The industry is expected to reach US$55 billion by 2020. Bulk drug exports are expected to grow the fastest at 14-16% CAGR due to the growing demand of generic products and rising cost pressures that innovators face. Formulation exports are also expected to grow at 14-16% CAGR.
How do you see the Indian pharma market in the next five years?
The Indian pharma industry has grown more than 15% annually in the last decade and this growth trend is expected to continue over the next five years. The market, also known as “pharmacy of the world” is expected to be in the top 10 global markets in terms of value by 2020. India is expected to be the third-largest global generic API merchant market by 2016 with 7,2% market share.
What are the driving factors for the specialty chemicals market in India?
Low-cost labour and raw material availability have been key factors for Indian companies. However, factors such as product innovation, branding and distribution are becoming increasingly important.
There were reports that China’s decline in specialty chemicals business will benefit India. What is your take on it?
In China, the specialty chemicals business is weakening, primarily as a result of inflexible norms and increasing wage costs in China. India is only 10% or 12% the size of the Chinese specialty chemicals market, which means there is a huge opportunity for Indian companies with the potential to scale up and grow on a sustained basis. Specialty chemicals are used to improve product quality in various industries such as electronics, paints, coatings, plastics and automobiles. There is a consensus, however, that the sector has even more potential.
In your view, what are the opportunities for the Indian specialty chemicals market?
With stricter environmental control regulations being implemented in China, Chinese manufacturers have lost their price advantages. This presents an opportunity for India after many decades, as the cost of production of India’s specialty chemicals is 10-15% lower than that in India.
Where does India stand compared to developed countries?
In the healthcare segment, India is the world leader in generic pharmaceuticals production and ranks amongst the top 20 pharma exporting countries – 20,000 pharma manufacturing units, 584 sites approved by USFDA, 1,400 WHO GMP approved manufacturing units, accredited with approximately 1,105 Certificate of Suitability ( CEP).
Tell us about your product offerings.
Azelis offers a broad range of specialty chemicals comprising APIs, advanced intermediates, excipients, nutraceuticals, cosmeceuticals sourced from reliable suppliers from Europe, China and Japan.
What makes your company different from other players?
Azelis focusses on the specialty chemicals segment and in the pharma arena has complete offerings of APIs and excipients. Our teams have the technical expertise and market knowledge to provide products and added-value services for our customers’ current and future needs.
Do your products differ from region to region or is the range common?
Azelis has a broad range, with a product mix tailored to meet the local demands of each country/region. We are a customer-driven company and always aim to meet local needs whilst maximising the benefits of our global technical support in product development.
Brief us about your expansion plans for the Indian market.
Azelis is currently expanding its presence in India, including setting up more offices, in order to have a pan-Indian presence. Apart from Mumbai, we have set up offices in Delhi and Hyderabad and plan to have an office in Chennai in the near future. We have moved to a large and modern office in Airoli, Navi Mumbai, with an eye on further expansion in terms of business/technical sales managers. The company is active in pharma, personal care, food, chemicals and CASE segments and has made provisions for setting up application labs for food, personal care and CASE segments.
Any plans to launch new products?
Azelis is working aggressively to introduce a number of products in personal care, food ingredients and CASE segments where we are trying to partner with major principals from the US, Europe, Japan and China for distribution of their products for the Indian markets.
Article taken over from Ingredients South Asia, February 2017 issue. Read the full article here.