Medicine exports by Korean pharmaceutical firms jumped by 22 percent in 2015 from a year earlier, the biggest on-year rise in five years, data showed Wednesday.
Outbound shipments of locally manufactured medicines stood at $2.94 billion last year, up 22 percent from the previous year, according to the data by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.
Local pharmaceutical firms produced US$16.96 billion worth of medicines in 2015, up 3.4 percent from a year earlier, they showed.
Medicine exports have been on a sharp rise increasing at an annual rate of 14 percent since 2011 when it logged $1.77 billion, the data showed.
The ministry said local pharmaceutical companies have become more competitive on the global stage on the back of robust research and development spending and policy backup by the government.
"Increase in medicine exports is the result of the government's consistent push for medicine exports," said Son Moon-ki, an official at the MFDS.
Japan was the top export destination, with $495.7 million in sales, trailed by Turkey with $253 million and Hungary with $173 million.
Imports of medicine, meanwhile, shrank 5.1 percent on-year to $4.9 billion last year, the data showed. (Yonhap)
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