Pathfinding companies from Asia.

Singsino Group Ltd, a Seychelles-based pharmaceutical manufacturer and supplier with offices in Hong Kong and plant facilities on the Chinese mainland, was pleased it decided to appear at CPhI South America: "we have big clients and the fair was good for us. We leave with new partners and a better position in the market," said the Group's Business Executive, Ruby Yin.

The group deals in pharma raw materials, food additives and vitamins and was among 75 China-related exhibitors at the event from 26 to 28 August at the Transamérica Expo Center in São Paulo. The huge event attracted some 8,000 visitors, among them large chemicals manufacturers and suppliers.

Most exhibitors weren't actually from South America. Said Event Director Annemieke Timmers: "about 70% are from overseas, most from India, China, the US, Europe and South Korea."

Yin: new partners, better market position.

The show primarily aims to help South American buyers with international supplier contacts. As Timmers said, Brazil doesn't have many of the ingredients required in pharma manufacturing; most is imported. "It will take a long time for Brazil to produce all its pharmaceutical industry needs," Timmers added.

According to research from the Brazilian Association of Importers and Distributors of Pharmaceutical Ingredients (ABRIFAR), Brazil imports approximately US$1.5 billion in pharmaceutical ingredients annually, with another US$3.2 billion of medicines.

"The market is stable," explained José Abdallah Nehme, ABRIFAR's President. "There was a drop from 2007 to 2008 due to the falling price of the US dollar, so everybody started buying finished medicines. But nowadays there are more than 3,000 ingredients arriving in the country, from Europe, India, China and South Korea."

Abdallah: ingredients from all over.

In general terms, Europe provides high-tech material to Brazil, while India supplies the Brazilian market with medicines for the treatment of AIDS and several synthetic products, such as antimycotic, antiulcer, antiviral and anti-inflammatory medicines. China provides vitamins with a high standard of quality and fermentation. From South Korea comes high-tech material and particularly cephalosporin, a next-generation antibiotic.

Aiming to turn potential into business

Exhibitors were keen to find new business. "This is our first time at CPhI. We hope to find some distributors of our product here to penetrate the Brazilian and South American markets," said Kim Bonjoong, Assistant Development Manager with South Korea's Yuyu, a company which produces and sells products such as a ginseng-ginkgo biloba preparation for mental disabilities.

Kim: attractive Brazilian market.

Liu: Brazilian potential.

"The Brazilian market is huge. The population is very big, so it's really attractive," said Kim. "We are currently exporting to several countries in Asia like Thailand and Malaysia and we want to expand our sales to Latin America, which appears quite promising," he added.

Jane Liu, Executive with Shanghai You Rong Fine Chemicals, a pigment and dye specialist from the Chinese mainland, said the fair was a good opportunity to enter the South American market. "In China we have many good companies exporting to several countries and this has drawn attention to our products. I believe this is a really good market. Brazil has great potential."

She continued: "we had some business with Argentina too, but we have more buyers in Brazil and we have made some new clients. We have established a good network. The only difficulty was that sometimes Brazilian buyers don't speak English."

Vieira (left) with colleague Rebeca Furlanis de Souza.

M Cassab team.

To Juliana Vieira, Commercial Agent for the publication, Discovery Chemicals, there's huge interest from Brazilian companies for Asian products. "They have good factories in Asia, good prices, good conditions for payment and they can still develop their products at good quality. They can conquer the market. The quality is getting better every year and Brazil is a large consumer," she explained.

For the record, CPhI South America 2009 featured 250 exhibitors from 18 countries.

"The number of Chinese and Indian companies is growing a lot," said Nelson Nunes, Pharmacist with Brazil's Quantix Trading, an ingredient provider to food manufacturers. "What we need here in Brazil is quality and stronger competition." He welcomed Hong Kong suppliers to the Brazilian market.

According to Ricardo Fernandes Silva, Commercial Agent for M Cassab, a manufacturer of lawn and garden watering products, participation from Asian countries in the South American market has grown fourfold.

Bureaucracy and quality control

According to Rebeca Furlanis de Souza, International Trade Analyst for the publication Discovery Chemicals, there is still too much bureaucracy to import products to Brazil. "But when a company fits the Brazilian standards of quality, everything becomes easier. With the right documents, there would be no problems," she said.

News at the fair from Farmanguinhos, the Government pharmaceutical laboratory, is that it's introducing a generic version of Tamiflu, called Oseltamivir, to distribute country-wide to combat the H1N1 virus.

Farmanguinhos buys ingredients extensively from Asia. "We are open to public bidding and always buy the cheapest product. Therefore, we have problems with quality," explained Mário Pagotto, Farmanguinhos' Chemical Assessor.

Farmanguinhos team: problems with cheapest products.

Anvisa stand at the fair.

The company is also responsible for regulating all entrants to the market for pharmaceutical ingredients in Brazil, signed off by Anvisa, the national agency responsible for sanitary surveillance.

Ginkgo biloba detail.

"It is important for the regulatory authority to be in contact with production trends. Anvisa wants to co-operate on the quality of products," said Norberto Rech, Anvisa Director.

Song Jie, Manager of Chinese mainland pharmaceutical firm Xuzhou Lvyuan Bio-technology Co Ltd, said entering the Brazilian market is not too difficult. The company specialises in extracts from the ginkgo biloba plant to produce preparations to counteract the effects of dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.

	New syringe for Brazil.

"As we work with a natural product, we didn't find problems with regulation. The Brazilian market is open to natural products and it is our second biggest market after Europe. In 2007, we exported 15 tonnes of [ginkgo biloba extract] product," Song said. She believed that herbs and natural medicines will grow in demand in Brazil over the next few years.

Biotech and herbal preparations highlighted

Among CPhI South America exhibitors was Biolotus, the European pharmaceutical company specialising in biotechnology; it presented innovative products in the areas of oncology and gynecology.

Alchem, the largest producer of herbal products in India, launched hydroxytyrosol pure, a powerful anti-oxidising agent, a natural polyphenol with maximum protection against free radicals.

New preparations featured at CPhI.

Labonathus, in partnership with the French company Roquette, launched Lycoat, a new starch polymer developed specifically for film coating. Through its organoleptic properties and easy solubilisation, it reduces the coating time and features a better performance in any storage conditions.

LIPID Ingredients and Technologies brought its new excipient SOLUTHIN®MD, a white material used to increase the absorption, promote stability and create different drug release systems. It is to be used mainly in tablets and capsules.

In the packaging market, an innovative product at the fair was the prefillable syringe, a new option in Brazil.

from special correspondent Mariana Vidal de Lima, São Paulo