Al Masry Al Youm, p.6, (17/5/2008)

20 Indian companies are considering means of entering into the Egyptian pharmaceutical market through establishing new factories and providing competitive prices

By: Emad El Sayed

The Egyptian local pharmaceutical companies have started new competition as some Indian companies started to study the available opportunities for entering the Egyptian market whose value was estimated at $ 2.2 billion in 2008.

About 20 Indian companies are thinking of establishing new factories in the Indian industrial zone, which Mr. Rashid decided to establish in Egypt.

A study conducted by the Indian Council for Promotion of pharmaceutical exports confirmed that the time is ripe for entering the Egyptian market. The council prepared a list of Indian companies accredited in Europe and the US to be sent to Egypt.

It is predicted that the Egyptian government will provide this list to Egyptian companies so as to be able to get raw materials from those companies at competitive prices.

As per the official statistics, Egypt imported Indian drugs to the amount of $ 52.2 million which represented 10% of the Egyptian pharmaceutical imports.

It is also predicted that the Indian production in the Indian free zone will have several privileges and tax and customs duties exemptions which give it a competitive edge over the prices of the Egyptian companies. In addition, those companies produce their raw materials for themselves which makes their final price less than that of the Egyptian products that depend on purchasing raw materials from India.

It is worth mentioning that the Egyptian market comprises a number of Saudi, UAE, Jordanian companies plus the Egyptian and Indian ones that are working in the field of generic medicines.

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