NEW DELHI - Indian's seeking to stave of flu and colds with the help of Vitamin
C, and the country's own producers of supplements using the product, are
finding it tougher to get hold of the health booster thanks to actions by the
Chinese authorities and their own government in New Delhi.
Indian manufacturers of Vitamin C, in a manner similar to the country's
producers of toys, crackers, power equipment and numerous other goods, have
over the past few years been facing stiff competition from cheaper products
available from their northern neighbor.
That was bad for the Indian factories, some of which were forced out of
business, but at least consumers were still able to get hold
of their vitamin supplements, and at a relatively low cost.
Recently, however, Vitamin C production has dwindled in China as well, in part
due to the Chinese government shutting down polluting factories in the run up
to the August 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Surviving Indian firms that have turned to China for supplies of the raw
material salts that go into Vitamin C production are meanwhile facing higher
costs, as the Chinese factories that produce these are having to introduce
cleaner technologies, driving up sale prices.
Compounding the Indian producers' woes, they cannot pass the higher costs on to
consumers as the government in New Delhi, through the National Pharmaceutical
Pricing Authority (NPPA), keeps the sale price of Vitamin C products
artificially depressed. The authority controls the pricing of 74 essential
drugs.
Making matters worse, India's Central Board of Excise and Customs in June
slapped an anti-dumping duty of US$3.99 per kilogram on imports of Chinese
Vitamin-C, to stay in place for five years.
The move was recommended by the Directorate General of Anti-dumping and Allied
duties to protect Indian industry. The Indian Finance Ministry said: "The
domestic industry has suffered material injury and needed protection."
As a result, a market worth an estimated 2 billion rupees (US$43 million) in
annual sales has become a loss-making business, leading to even more severe
scarcity. The overall size of the Indian multi-vitamin market is about 15
billion rupees.
According to the All India Chemists and Druggists Association (AICDA), popular
Vitamin C brands such as Limcee, manufactured by Piramal Healthcare, and
Celine, from GlaxoSmithKline, have been in short supply for the past couple of
months.
The AICDA says rising prices of Vitamin-C salts has resulted in pharmaceutical
companies removing Vitamin C compounds from their multi-supplement brands.
Indian pharmaceutical companies dependent on the raw material from China want
the Indian NPPA to make manufacturing of the drug a sustainable option.
Vitamin C is seen as helping to increase longevity and strengthen protection
against contagious infections such as flu and cold. Vitamin supplements also
help to counter malnutrition. In India, malnutrition rates are worse than
sub-Saharan Africa, and much higher than in China. Amartya Sen, an Indian Nobel
laureate in economics, has noted that China has reduced childhood malnutrition
to 7%, while India stands as high as 42.5%.
With the onset of winter in India and H1N1 or swine-flu already claiming 485
lives in the country by the first week of November, doctors say that
maintaining supplies of Vitamin C is crucial.
Even in the affluent Delhi suburb of Gurgaon, the vitamin supplement is now
hard to find, and some chemists have taken to overcharging to take advantage of
the shortage.
"A pack of 10 tablets of the supplement costs about three to five rupees more
than the maximum retail price. This makes it expensive for many people - for
construction workers in the area, for instance, as their daily wage is not more
than a 40 rupees or so," said Subhash, at pharmaceutical outlet Ram Medicos.
Ajay Pal Gupta, vice president of India's druggists association, has said that
since Vitamin C is a small product category with already low prices, the
government should not control its price. "The government should regulate prices
of medicines that are expensive."
Replying to concerns of the Indian industry, NPPA chairman SM Jharwal said, "If
price is a constraint, we will certainly look into it."
The response so far is bringing little comfort to manufacturers. "Even after
the NPPA gave assurances of a price revision for Vitamin C no change as yet has
been undertaken," said Harinder Sikka, director corporate affairs of Piramal
Healthcare.
Priyanka Bhardwaj is a journalist based in New Delhi. She can be reached
at priyanka2508@yahoo.co.in)
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