India Imports Chemicals & Raw Materials to Boost Covid-19 Vaccine Production

15 May 2021

India has been considered to be the world’s largest producer of vaccines for coronavirus. India exported vaccine to countries in the regions of Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, and Africa. Recipient countries also include the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico. Now in order to meet rising local demand of Covid-19 vaccine due to record-breaking coronavirus cases surge; India is boosting vaccine production and placing import orders of chemicals, raw materials and equipment. Let’s analyse India imports Covid chemicals & raw materials from Export Genius India import statistics.

India Imports Vaccine Chemicals and Raw Materials

Antigen, preservatives, stabilizers, surfactants, residuals, diluent, adjuvant and l-alanine, phenyl phosphorodichloridate, bioreactor bag, filter, cell culture media, lipid nanoparticles and microcarriers beads are important chemicals and raw materials which use in production of coronavirus vaccine in India. Due to rising number of cases, India has enhanced vaccine drive and pharmaceutical companies are producing more & more vaccines. For this, India is majorly depending on countries to import chemicals and raw materials used in vaccine production. Below is list of countries from where India imported vaccine chemicals and raw materials during Jan 2020 – 31 Mar 2021 with approximately share in values.

India Imports Vaccine Equipment

Vaccine equipment like cold storage equipment and vials & stoppers are also used for vaccine storage and other purposes. India also depends on countries to import vaccine equipment. Check the list of countries from where India imported vaccine equipment during Jan 2020 to Mar 2021 with approximately share in values.

Vaccine Exports from India

Many vaccines were exported as a form of the endowment or present. While many vaccines were exported after an agreement between the vaccine manufacturer and the recipient in different countries. The rest were taken care of by the World Health Organization (WHO) under the Covax scheme which assures to deliver over 2 billion doses in 190 countries in less than a year.

Export data for vaccines in India is provided below ranging from the time period of November 2020 to March this year. As we can see in the India vaccine export data, the highest exports are made to the United Kingdom with a total share value in overall exports of 78.3%, followed by Russia with 21.5%, Taiwan with 0.07%, and Vietnam and Australia both with 0.01. Look at the list of top 5 export countries for COVID-19 vaccines from India.

However, since March, Indian governments have put export restrictions temporarily due to the rising cases in the whole country. As said by the government, the restrictions have to be put due to the rising cases which will eventually increase the domestic demand of India for vaccines.

Vaccine Imports to India

COVID-19 vaccine imports in India are shown in the vaccine import data below. The data time period range is from the previous year’s November month to present year’s March month. As we can see in the import data of COVID-19 vaccine, the highest imports were made in March this year with a total value of $266.3 thousand. Looking at the vaccine imports data of India, we can assume that India vaccine imports surged drastically high after discovery of increasing cases. Look at the India vaccine import data below and observe the figures.

India’s Imports of Raw Materials for Production of Covaxin and Covishield Vaccines

 

India imports raw materials from countries like United States for production of Covaxin and Covishield vaccines. Bioreactor bag, filter, cell culture media, lipid nanoparticles and microcarriers beads are some essential raw materials that are used to produce Covid-19 Covaxin and Covishield vaccines. Here are major developments:

In an attempt to make India self-reliant in manufacturing raw material for vaccines like adjuvants and other chemicals; Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech has tied up with the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) to work on technologies and raw materials.

India has urged US President Joe Biden to lift the embargo on export of raw materials needed to ramp up production of Covishield and Covovax.

In this crucial time of pandemic, vaccine is a major tool to fight against second wave of Covid-19. But due to shortage of raw materials, the production of vaccines is becoming slow, especially when the United States put restrictions of exporting raw materials to India. Now Indian government is holding talks with America to remove restrictions on raw materials.