South Africa Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) Market Overview 2027

South Africa is the nation that is situated at the southernmost tip of the African continent. The country has three capitals, namely Cape Town, Pretoria, and Bloemfontein. The country is a multi-ethnic, constitutional democracy that comprises a parliamentary republic and nine provinces with a population of around 60.4 million. The country is famous for its great natural beauty and cultural diversity. These renowned things have made the country a favourite destination for travellers. The country is also known as the largest importer of pharmaceutical products. The nation imports almost 95% of the total APIs from the different nations.

According to the report, the South African API market is observed to be growing at over 6%. The South African API market was explored on the basis of the synthesis type, therapeutic application, and on the basis of the manufacturer type. Here, on the basis of the synthesis type, the synthetic type API is examined to be more dominating because of the easy protocols and the raw materials. On the basis of manufacturer type, the captive API market is shown to be dominant due to increased manufacturing investments by local players.

The therapeutic application is the summation of communicable diseases, oncology, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, pain management, respiratory diseases, and nephrology, which is also known as chronic kidney disease. Amongst these applications, oncology diseases are observed to be the major reason for the consumption of API. The API market size through oncology diseases is expected to grow at a CAGR of more than 8% as many as 68% of South Africans was overweight or obese. Obesity is the major cause of cancer. Whereas diabetes is considered one of the most common diseases in the nation. The nation has around 4.5 million people infected with diabetes. Since the number of aged people is increasing in the nation, it is estimated that diabetes diseases will become one of the most common diseases in the future, which will increase the market size for the API market. The diabetes API market is expected to grow further at a CAGR of more than 6%.

The major diseases that are the leading causes of death are HIV/AIDS in South Africa. The biological and social high rates of teenage pregnancy; an epidemic of gender-based and interpersonal violence; a lack of quality education; and widespread poverty and unemployment are the causes of HIV/AIDS infection. According to past data, the number of deaths in 2017 was reported as 126,755, or 25.03% of all South African deaths. The South African people are lacking the backbone to prevent these deaths because of the lack of focus on the national APIs.

The South African nation has around 2,693 retail pharmacies, which drives the market for the merchant APIs. Whereas the in-house production of chemical substances is said to be the captive API, it has the dominating position because of the larger investment in the manufacturing facilities. The captive API market will have a market share of over 50% in 2021. Because South Africa is regarded as an outsourcing destination, it is expected that the country will include a third party in the future production and sale of APIs. Therefore, it is expected that merchant APIs can gradually gain ground in the future, with the prospect of being worth around 17% CAGR. On the basis of synthesis type, the synthetic API is the dominating one because of the easy protocols. These are the small molecules that are found in the form of capsules and tablets. These materials are commercially made available on the market. The synthetic API market is estimated to grow at a faster pace in terms of CAGR. The major reason for the growth of the synthesis API market is the easy availability of raw materials. On the other hand, the biotech API is on edge to gain the ground as it has the advancements and innovativeness that are in more demand. Other than that, many companies have invested in biotech APIs. which is one of the reasons that led to an increase in the market share of the APIs.

Considered in this report

• Geography: South Africa
• Historic Year: 2016
• Base year: 2021
• Estimated year: 2022
• Forecast year: 2027

Aspects covered in this report

• South Africa active pharmaceutical ingredient market
• Application wise API market analysis
• Various drivers and challenges
• On-going trends and developments
• Top profiled companies
• Strategic recommendation

Based on synthesis type of API in the report:

• Synthetic API
• Biotech API

Based on therapeutic application type of API in the report:

• Communicable diseases
• Oncology
• Diabetes
• Cardiovascular diseases
• Pain management
• Respiratory diseases
• Other therapeutic application

By Type of manufacturer in the report:

• Captive API
• Biotech API

The approach of the report:

This report consists of a combined approach of primary as well as secondary research. Initially, secondary research was used to get an understanding of the market and listing out the companies that are present in the market. The secondary research consists of third-party sources such as press releases, annual report of companies, analysing the government generated reports and databases. After gathering the data from secondary sources primary research was conducted by making telephonic interviews with the leading players about how the market is functioning and then conducted trade calls with dealers and distributors of the market. Post this we have started doing primary calls to consumers by equally segmenting consumers in regional aspects, tier aspects, age group, and gender. Once we have primary data with us we have started verifying the details obtained from secondary sources.

Intended audience

This report can be useful to industry consultants, manufacturers, suppliers, associations & organizations related to API market trends, medical industry, and other stakeholders to align their market-centric strategies. In addition to marketing & presentations, it will also increase competitive knowledge about the industry.