Medical Device Industry Development Report: Significant Market Potential in Countries Along the Belt and Road

Release time:

2025-03-01

Recently, the “Medical Device Blue Book: Report on the Development of China’s Medical Device Industry (2018),” jointly released in Beijing by the China Association for Pharmaceutical Regulatory Research and the Social Sciences Academic Press, stated that since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, demand for Chinese medical device products has increased among countries along the Belt and Road.

Medical Device Industry Development Report: Significant Market Potential in Countries Along the Belt and Road

Recently, the “Medical Device Blue Book: Report on the Development of China’s Medical Device Industry (2018),” jointly released in Beijing by the China Association for Pharmaceutical Regulatory Research and the Social Sciences Academic Press, stated that since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, demand for Chinese medical device products has increased among countries along the Belt and Road. In 2017, trade in medical devices between these countries and China reached US$6.361 billion, up 7.7% from the previous year and accounting for 15.12% of China’s total global medical device exports during the same period.

　　The report states that, over the more than five years since the Belt and Road Initiative was launched, it has resonated with many countries. Its principles of extensive consultation, joint contribution, shared benefits, and win-win cooperation—emphasizing peaceful development and common progress—have gained widespread recognition. These principles have facilitated trade and investment liberalization and facilitation in Asia and beyond, strengthened two-way investment with various countries, created new areas of cooperation, and provided opportunities for regional and sub-regional international collaboration. Chinese medical-device companies should seize these opportunities by adopting a new “group-based overseas expansion” model that leverages complementary strengths and diversifies overseas investment risks, thereby jointly tapping into foreign markets and bringing Chinese products, services, and brands to an increasing number of countries along the Belt and Road.

　　The report shows that in 2017, a total of 16,768 Chinese enterprises engaged in the import and export of medical devices with countries along the Belt and Road, representing a year-on-year increase of 12.22% and a rise of 4,213 compared with 2013, underscoring the growing attention these countries are attracting from domestic firms. At present, the majority of participating enterprises are private companies; in the context of Belt and Road cooperation, private firms serve as both the mainstay and a dynamic force, accounting for US$3.036 billion in export value, or 67.83% of the total.

　　The report argues that the Belt and Road Initiative has created an international healthcare industry market with enormous potential, bringing together both domestic and foreign medical resources and attracting extensive participation from stakeholders across the global healthcare sector. For Chinese medical device companies seeking to make inroads into markets along the Belt and Road, the top priority is to achieve harmonious integration with local social norms, cultural contexts, and legal systems.

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Medical Device Industry Development Report: Significant Market Potential in Countries Along the Belt and Road

Recently, the “Medical Device Blue Book: Report on the Development of China’s Medical Device Industry (2018),” jointly released in Beijing by the China Association for Pharmaceutical Regulatory Research and the Social Sciences Academic Press, stated that since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed in 2013, demand for Chinese medical device products has increased among countries along the Belt and Road.

2025-03-01

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