The National Bureau of Statistics recently released data on the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry in 2011. In 2011, the accumulated sales revenue of pharmaceutical manufacturing industry reached 145.22 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.37%, and the growth rate was at a historically high level; the total accumulated profits amounted to 149.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 23.50%. At the same time, the income growth rate of industrial enterprises showed a gradual decline.

According to data from the purchasing managers' index (PMI) recently released by the Bureau of Statistics, the output of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry dropped significantly in January this year. From the PMI data, in January 2012, the pharmaceutical production index was below the critical point, the production volume decreased significantly, the inventory of major raw materials decreased significantly, the index of industry employees was below the critical point, and the number of employees employed decreased.

An industry researcher at Minsheng Securities stated that the decline in pharmaceutical manufacturing output in January was mainly due to the Spring Festival. After the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry experienced the bottoming stage in July last year, production and demand have improved. From September to November last year, the production index and new orders index both returned above the critical point, but the output in January of this year decreased significantly. It is expected that this may be due to the impact of the Spring Festival this year in January.

For the 2012 medical market, which is full of uncertainties, some experts believe that due to the global economic downturn, the government's 850 billion yuan worth of new medical reforms has already been put in place, and investment growth in the future may decline. Due to changes in drug control and payment methods of public hospitals, compared to previous years, 2012 is the “year of adjustment” for the transformation and upgrading of the pharmaceutical industry, and the growth rate of the pharmaceutical economy may slow down.