China Market Research Service

      In the global medical device industry, the importance of the Chinese market has become increasingly prominent. As the most populous country in the world, China has huge demand for medical devices, which not only meets domestic medical and health needs, but also plays an increasingly important role in the global market. In recent years, with the rapid development of the economy and the improvement of people’s living standards, China’s medical device market has shown strong growth momentum.

      From 2021 to 2022, various regions around the world have entered the normalization of epidemic prevention. Therefore, related production lines in these countries have gradually resumed, which has reduced the demand for medical consumables. The increasingly complex international situation has also led to a decline in purchasing power in the global market. According to statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China, China’s total import and export of medical devices have declined in 2022, mainly reflected in the significant decline in export value. While the export of epidemic prevention consumables has declined, the export of some high-tech medical device products has increased rapidly. In terms of imports, there is currently a high degree of dependence on the import of high-end medical devices.

China’s Import Situation in Medical Device Segments From 2021 to 2022

Data source: Public statistics from the General Administration of Customs of China

      In terms of the national import market, the United States is still the largest import market for medical devices in China, with import volume reaching 78.476 billion yuan in 2022, accounting for 23.95%. Overall, the import proportions of various countries have little fluctuation. Ireland ranks fourth in terms of total import volume, and its share of import volume in 2022 has increased by 2 percentage points.

Import Situation of Medical Devices From Major Countries in 2021-2022

      In terms of importing provinces, Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou are the main importing areas, accounting for nearly 80% of the total import volume. It can be seen from the distribution of provinces that the Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, and Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei are the main regions with demand for imports of medical devices.

      The registration and certification of medical products is the first threshold for companies to export into various countries. Registration certificates of medical devices are a key factor for companies to win customers in competition. Many companies have good products. Customers are also in demand of these good products. But because some companies do not have registration certificates, they will unfortunately miss out on customers in need. Therefore, it is recommended that companies determining to enter international market should conduct market research first; and then find customers and register products at the same time, or register products first.

Market Research Service