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The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety reported on May 28 that last year’s domestic medical equipment business ended with a profit of KRW 587.8 billion, the fourth consecutive year with a surplus. Visitors are shown looking around the Korea International Dental Products Exhibition organized by aT Center in Seoul’s Gangnam-gu district on December 17, 2023. (Yonhap News)

Author: Lee Dasom

Last year, the country’s medical products sector closed with a profit of KRW 587.8 billion, the fourth consecutive year in surplus.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said on May 28 in its 2023 report on the production, import and export of this type of equipment that the scale of this industry reached KRW 10.72 trillion last year. The sector’s average annual growth of 8.3% over the past five years demonstrates its continued upward trend.

Domestic production of such devices last year fell 28.1% compared to 2022 to KRW 11.31 trillion due to lower demand for coronavirus testing kits resulting from the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic. The production value of in vitro diagnostic products fell 80.4% to KRW 1.18 trillion last year, and their exports fell 75.7% to KRW 1.12 trillion year-on-year.

However, production of general medical equipment increased by 4.5% last year from KRW 9.69 trillion in 2022 to KRW 10.13 trillion last year.

The scale of the domestic digital medical devices market reached KRW 409.9 billion, and their share in total medical device exports increased for the fourth consecutive year.

In particular, exports of software-based digital medical devices only recorded an astonishing average annual growth of 311.7% over the four-year period.

“The scale of domestic production last year was approximately five times larger than the volume of imports,” the ministry said. “The growth potential for domestic software-based digital medical devices is enormous.”

Implantological frames lost their leading position in domestic production in 2020 due to the sharp increase in domestic production of in vitro diagnostic medical devices following the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic. However, over the last four years, they have regained the top spot in the ranking, achieving an average annual growth rate of 24.4% in production and 29.9% in exports.

“To promote the national mandate of becoming a global biodigital health power, the National Assembly passed the Digital Health Products Act in January,” the ministry said. “We will further enhance our global competitiveness in digital medical devices.”

By country, last year the world’s largest exporters of such equipment were the United States with USD 890 million, followed by China with USD 650 million, Japan with USD 360 million and Russia with USD 340 million.

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