Libya third African country to ban Indian drugs

Guest Post by BV Mahalalakshmi
khushbo143@hotmail.com

HyderabadLibya has become the third African country which has banned import of Indian drugs, after Nigeria and Uganda. Though there is no official confirmation from the Libyan embassy about the ban, exporters from the country have approached Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council (Pharmexcil) in India as customs officials in Libya have apparently denied them permission to land their products and some consignments have been seized. Sources close to this development told FE that a notification was issued in June.
Incidentally, this comes at a time when the country is already been bracketed by the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and has also put the country on “priority watch list” for unauthorised use of bulk active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to manufacture counterfeit products.
Pharmexcil is working with exporters to understand the gravity of the situation as the Africa market stands fourth in terms of global pharmaceutical exports from India which amount to over Rs 600 crore. Total exports from India to Libya accounted for only about Rs 20 crore in 2007-08.
As per rough estimates, there are about 20 companies which are exporting to Libya. Few exporters, who did not wish to be named, said that this move by the Libyan government is adding fuel to the fire to the burning issue in the South African market. The procurement of drugs is mostly in the form of tendering for low-cost generic products in South Africa and none of the Indian companies who participated in the tender process were qualified despite quoting the least.
Libya ranks 122 among the importers of pharmaceutical products from India and 31st in African region. India exported pharmaceutical products worth Rs 20.67 crore in 2007-08 growing at compounded annual growth rate of 172.4% over the five year period 2003-04 to 2007-08. The country mainly imports formulations with bulk drugs imports being negligible. DRL, Ranbaxy, Cipla, Ajanta Pharma, IPCA Labs, etc are some of the big companies exporting APIs and formulations to South Africa.
As per information available from Pharmexcil, there are only two pharmaceutical factories in Libya, both producing medications such as tablets, capsules, syrups, suspensions, ointments, creams and suppositories. One factory has been licensed this year to produce disposable medical supplies. There are more than 20 medical supplies distributors representing pharmaceutical and medical supplies/equipment companies in Libya and 300 international pharmaceutical manufacturers are already registered in Libya. Recently, the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) of Nigeria had issued a statement that a large consignment of fake anti-malarial drugs, worth over $2.16 million, was seized. These drugs were imported from China with Made in India labels. According to senior government officials investigations are being made by NAFDAC and the final report is awaited even while the Indian government has taken steps by bringing the issue to the notice of Chinese authorities, through Embassy of India in China, seeking stern action against such unscrupulous elements.
To counter the recent continuous allegations, the commerce ministry has also decided to convene a meeting with the concerned officials in South Africa besides leading a team to South Africa as part of the brand building exercise. Meanwhile Pharmexcil has sent a note to its members who are exporting to Nigeria, to keep a close watch in the genuineness of the “company’s own products” being sold in African markets by self scrutiny of labels and drug testing.