The pharmaceutical industry is a very important sector in the Hungarian economy. This was emphasised by Minister of Economy Márton Nagy in his opening speech at a conference of the Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (Magyosz) on Tuesday.
The minister called on players in the pharmaceutical sector to contribute to the economy’s growth of over 3% next year. The industry is heavily dependent on exports, the manufacturing sector is ‘suffering’ and the pharmaceutical industry is not in good shape on the production side. While pharmaceutical demand is recovering, production is ‘weak’, which is mainly due to exports. Domestic production of pharmaceuticals can only pick up again if exports also pick up.
Leading the way in pharmaceuticals
The global pharmaceutical market, the fourth largest market in the world in terms of net sales, is expected to grow to USD 1,900 billion by 2027. Pharmaceutical production in Europe and Hungary is a pillar on which to build for the future. The gross value added of the domestic pharmaceutical industry is outstanding by international standards. Domestic pharmaceutical production was worth almost 2 billion euros in 2022, significantly exceeding the performance of neighbouring countries. In terms of population size, Hungary only ranks 96th in the world, while the Hungarian pharmaceutical industry is the 20th largest exporter in the world. In terms of pharmaceutical exports per capita, Hungary ranks 12th in the world, which shows the global importance and competitiveness of the Hungarian pharmaceutical industry, explained Magyosz President Dávid Greskovits.
High added value
According to a study prepared for the conference in collaboration between Magyosz and Deloitte, the sector’s gross value added in 2022 amounted to 775 billion forints and turnover to 1,670 billion forints. The gross value added of the pharmaceutical sector was 47% of production, while the average for the manufacturing sector was only 20%. The gross value added per employee in the pharmaceutical sector totalled 24.6 million forints, compared with an average of 10.1 million forints in the manufacturing industry and 12.9 million forints in the automotive sector.
