Cold Front Approaching: China gets serious about pharma temperature control

The future of Chinese pharma

With demand expected to remain strong for cold-storage facilities in China for many years to come, the next few years may see major opportunities for builders and operators of modern cold-chain facilities.

“We expect that growth to continue to be strong as we see expanded health care being provided with more investments by governments in health care services,” Marshall said. “There’s more propensity to spend with a growing middle class, particularly in China. And we’re also seeing high-growth markets in Korea, Vietnam and, of course, India. That is translating to increased volumes, and a lot of pressure that’s being placed upon the available infrastructure.”

“We believe that one way to [meet this need] is to bring in network operators such as us, because wherever you go, you are guaranteed the same quality that you would expect for the state-of-the-art facilities,” said Swire’s Lam. “In terms of low-price and low-quality operations, that is still the situation in China, but we hope in the end that will change.”

As the $3 trillion global pharmaceuticals market continues to grow at 4 to 5 percent per year, products requiring cold chain facilities will represent 25 percent of the market by 2020, said Gert-Jan Jansen, executive director of the Seabury Group research firm and head of Seabury’s Cargo Advisory Team. Global pharma sales, he added, will continue to drive pharma trade growth in the medium term.

Some of the largest Asian pharma trade lanes, mainly involving China, have seen rapid growth in the past few years, and much of this trade requires temperature-controlled facilities, Jansen said. Temperature control capabilities and facilities will need to be continually improved, he added.

“While it is still relatively small, the pharmaceutical industry in China has one of the fastest growing air trade sectors in the world,” Jansen added. “Recent growth in key trade lanes and future forecasts suggest temperature-controlled pharma to be a major growth driver for air trade. Airlines, airports and handlers will need to adapt their capabilities to serve this growth market in the future.”

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