Bio healthcare company sales increased by 13.1% in the first half of this year... Close to 20 trillion won

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Seon-mi = Sales of bio healthcare companies in the first half of this year increased by 13.1% compared to the same period last year.

During the same period, research and development (R&D) expenses increased by 18.7%.

The Korea Biotechnology Association announced the results of a survey on trends in listed bio healthcare companies on the 30th.

This is the result of the association's analysis of the semi-annual reports of 82 public companies included in the bio-healthcare sector of the Korea Exchange industrial index.

The sales of 82 bio healthcare companies in the first half of the year reached KRW 19.623 trillion, an increase of 13.1%, approaching KRW 20 trillion. Of these, domestic demand was KRW 10.7855 trillion and exports were KRW 8.8375 trillion, up 13.4% and 12.6%, respectively.

By sector, pharmaceuticals increased by 12.5% ​​and medical devices increased by 18.7%.

An official from the association explained, "In the pharmaceutical field, the expansion of biopharmaceutical consignment production exports by large companies and the export performance of biopharmaceuticals and new drug raw materials (API) by mid-sized companies appeared to have contributed to the increase in sales."

Bio-healthcare companies' research and development expenses in the first half of the year increased by 18.7% to 2.1968 trillion won. Among these, the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors increased by 19.9% ​​and 2.5%, respectively.

The total workforce of bio healthcare companies in the first half of this year was 48,725, an increase of 3.7%.

Among these, the number of research and development personnel increased by 1.1% to 8,055 (16.5%).

The bio healthcare company's sales in the second quarter increased by 10.4%, and research and development expenses increased by 18.9%.

The company's external growth rate has slowed compared to last year.

The sales growth rate in the first half of this year was 10.6%, down 7.2 percentage points from the same period last year.

The operating profit ratio in the first half of this year was 19.6%, down 0.3 percentage points.

In the medical device sector, the operating profit ratio increased by 5.0% points thanks to the improvement in profitability of small and medium-sized companies, but the operating profit ratio in the pharmaceutical sector decreased by 0.8% points.