Author: Wu Mianqiang
On the fourth day of the first lunar month, Zhang Sheng, the deputy general manager in charge of production of Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pan Gaoshou Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Baiyunshan Pan Gaoshou"), finished his vacation and went to work.
This is the busiest Spring Festival holiday since he joined the company for more than ten years.
In Baiyunshan Pan Gaoshou's product structure, cough medicines account for more than 90% of the total. As a guaranteed supply medicine factory for cough medicines, it has been producing at full capacity for three consecutive months.
This is the busiest Spring Festival start season for domestic cough medicine companies in the past three years since the epidemic.
Representatives of a number of Chinese patent cough medicine companies in China said in interviews that their orders have been placed in March or April of this year or even later.
guarantee
On February 2, in the production workshop of Pan Gaoshou in Baiyun Mountain, bottles of oral liquid with brown caps came out of the filling machine one by one, and were quickly labeled with medicines. Automatically make tray and cover film, and box and wrap.
This is the Shedan Chuanbeiye pharmaceutical production line, one of the busiest workshops of Pan Gaoshou in Baiyun Mountain.
Every day, hundreds of thousands of tubes of Shedan Chuanbei liquid are continuously produced from here, and after passing the inspection, they are then transported to the market terminal.
Pan Gaoshou was founded in the 16th year of Guangxu in Qing Dynasty (AD 1890). It is one of the first batch of "Chinese Time-honored Brands" recognized by the State Council. It mainly produces Chinese patent medicines for relieving cough and reducing phlegm. and other common cough types of Chinese patent medicines, among which Cough-Cough Chuanbei Piquat Lotion, Milian Chuanbei Pipagao, Shedan Chuanbei Liquid, and Shedan Chuanbei Pipagao are the exclusive varieties.
Since last year, Pan Gaoshou has been undertaking the task of preventing and controlling the epidemic to stabilize production and supply.
According to the person in charge of the workshop, everyone currently works 13 hours a day, basically in two shifts.
Guizhou Bailing Enterprise Group Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Guizhou Bailing") also undertakes the task of guaranteeing supply. Its cough medicine production workshop has started as early as the second day of the Lunar New Year.
"Our (cough medicine production line) resumed work on the second day of the Lunar New Year, and is currently producing at full capacity." On February 2, the relevant person in charge of Guizhou Bailing told the first financial reporter that the company is responsible for supply guarantees in more than 100 domestic regions. Task.
Whether it is Pan Gaoshou or Guizhou Bailing, this wave of guaranteed supply orders mainly came after the adjustment of the epidemic prevention and control policy in early December last year.
At that time, the number of positive people in various places increased sharply, and the demand for cough medicine increased.
In the past three years of the epidemic, the potential demand for cough medicines has been increasing, but many places have implemented control measures such as real-name drug purchases for the "four types of medicines" including cough medicines, which has had a direct impact on sales and has also affected the The production link of pharmaceutical companies.
Xiang Hengsheng, marketing director of Baiyunshan Pan Gaoshou, has been working in the company for nearly 20 years. He has personally experienced the impact of the epidemic on the cough medicine market in the past three years.
"After the outbreak of the epidemic in 2020, in order to overcome the dilemma of restricted sales of 'four types of drugs', the marketing center asked the general manager of the sales region to personally guide the provinces and regions, 'dimensionality reduction strike', leading the team to communicate repeatedly with customers, and carry out orderly Marketing, and strive to ensure the completion of the annual economic indicators."
According to the data from Minet.com, the sales of Chinese patent medicines for cough, phlegm and asthma in 2019 in the six major markets of China's three major terminals are close to 25 billion yuan; in 2020, affected by the epidemic and the restrictions on the sale of four types of drugs, the sales volume will drop sharply by 27.93%. Less than 18 billion yuan; sales in 2021 will exceed 20 billion yuan, achieving a positive growth of 12.82%, but there is still a gap from the pre-epidemic level.
The largest market share of Chinese patent medicines for cough is Nin Jiom in Kyoto. The information publicly disclosed by its distributor Kingwood Pharmaceutical Group (01110.HK) shows the changes in the market in recent years: It is very unfavorable for over-the-counter medicines such as cough and cough. The real-name registration system is implemented, and they are often faced with the situation of being removed from the shelves. The flow of people in pharmacies has decreased, and consumer demand has decreased. Affected by this, in 2020, the revenue of Nin Jiom Milian Chuanbei Pipa Gao in Kyoto will decline. More than 60%, fortunately it will recover in 2021, but sales restrictions still continue.
The sudden release of the epidemic policy has caused cough medicine companies to experience a huge test of guaranteeing supply. You must know that before this, due to the influence of the sales side, such pharmaceutical companies also restrained their production.
The "deregulation" of epidemic prevention and control has also brought about the deregulation of market demand. At the same time, the pressure on relevant pharmaceutical companies to ensure supply is also increasing.
"We produce at full capacity every day. At the peak, we can produce more than 4,500 pieces a day, but it is still a drop in the bucket. The company is anxious about the needs of customers. On the premise of ensuring the safety of employees and product quality, the company will guarantee production at all costs." Zhang Sheng Said, "We initially had close to 200 front-line production employees, and later recruited more than 300 workers to assist in production. The production line increased from 4 to 8 in the peak season in the past. Taking Chuanbei loquat sugar as an example, a single The daily production capacity has increased from 200 pieces/day to 600 pieces/day, and further increased to 800 pieces/day, four times the previous daily production capacity.”
Change
In the view of some cough medicine industry insiders, with the adjustment of the epidemic prevention policy, the market may also change.
At the beginning of December 2022, the official website of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine released the "Guidelines for Home Medicine Intervention of New Coronary Virus Infected Patients", pointing out that those with obvious symptoms of cough should take Chinese patent medicines that have the effect of clearing the lung and relieving cough, such as Jizhi syrup and cough quick stop syrup , Xuanfeizhisou mixture, etc.
Some cough medicine companies will benefit from this.
Taking Guizhou Bailing as an example, the company's cough suding syrup has become the recommended drug.
At the same time, the company's Shuangyanghoubitong Granules, Compound Yizhihua Spray, Ganqing Syrup and other products were selected into the "Two Guarantees and One Stability" List of Prevention and Control of New Coronavirus Infection by the China Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and have successively entered key supply varieties in various places The list and the guidelines for home treatment of new coronavirus infection released in many places.
China Business News learned that since December 2022, the daily output of Guizhou Bailing's cough suding syrup once reached 350,000 bottles.
At present, the daily output of cough suding syrup has dropped compared with the peak.
After the market returns, changes are also taking place.
In recent years, as Internet shopping continues to gain popularity, many young people have developed the habit of online shopping, especially on food delivery platforms such as Meituan and Ele.me, where home delivery after placing an order continues to be popular, so in the past In the OTO Internet sales sector, cough medicine merchants, mostly OTC (over-the-counter drugs, which can be sold outside the hospital) medicines, continue to deploy this sector, which has become a "battlefield for military strategists".
"Since the outbreak, our online shopping orders for cold and cough products have almost doubled. This competition is the supply chain coverage ability, especially the sales of a store, and the sales from the Internet platform account for a large proportion. Our current basic store line There are very few offline sales, and they are basically online." Mr. Yang, who has been engaged in pharmaceutical wholesale and retail business in Guangzhou for many years, told the first financial reporter.
With the normalization of epidemic prevention and control, online retailing has become the main direction of cough medicine companies.
"In the past, Pan Gaoshou of Baiyun Mountain accounted for a relatively small proportion of sales on the O2O Internet food delivery platform. After the outbreak, we have quickly deployed and cooperated on the top O2O platform, and have achieved certain results." Xiang Hengsheng told the first financial reporter. , In the past, the company focused on fine and thorough VIP customers, but now it wants to cover a wide range of customers, not just limited to customers in one prefecture and city.
"In the post-epidemic era, the competition is still about the strength of the company and the accumulation and accumulation of the past."