The South Korean bioindustry’s production surpassed 20 trillion won ($15.36 billion) for the first time last year, up by more than 20 percent on year, on the back of strong exports of Covid-19 test kits, data showed Thursday.

The industry production amounted to 20.99 trillion won ($16.2 billion) last year, up 22.1 percent from a year earlier, according to data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy and the Korea Biotechnology Industry Organization. The figure exceeded the 10 trillion won mark for the first time in 2017. The industry’s total output has been growing at an annual average of 19.9 percent over the past five years.

By sector, biopharmaceuticals took up the largest percentage of the total output at 27.8 percent, while the portion of biomedical equipment climbed to 25.1 percent from 22.7 percent in the previous year, backed by explosive growth of the in vitro diagnostics market during the pandemic.

The data also showed the bioindustry’s exports expanded 18 percent on year to 11.86 trillion won last year.

In particular, exports of biomedical equipment climbed 39.0 percent on year, driven by soaring overseas demand for coronavirus test kits.

Bioindustry imports soared 96.2 percent on year to 4.77 trillion won mainly due to sharp increases in coronavirus vaccines to combat the pandemic.

Thanks to the bioindustry’s brisk growth, its workforce grew by 6.4 percent on year to 55,618 at the end of last year. Total investments in the sector increased by 10 percent to 3.07 trillion won. Facility investment rose 12.6 percent, outpacing R&D investment of 9.1 percent.

By Pulse

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