Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy of the Republic of Korea

12/08/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 12/07/2022 23:56

MOTIE announces Korea's vaccine industry survey results

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) and Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) announced on December 6 the domestic vaccine industry survey results for 2021 in terms of sales, exports, employment and investment.

This survey was conducted by a group of institutions, including the Korea Pharmaceutical and Bio-Pharma Manufacturers Association, Korea Specialty Chemical Industry Association and Korea Rating & Data (KoDATA), and it is the first survey on the domestic vaccine industry.

Based on the vaccine industry classification system established by experts, a complete enumeration survey was conducted on 159 vaccine companies in Korea, of which large-sized enterprises, middle-market companies and SMEs take up 3.1 percent, 26.4 percent and 70.4 percent, respectively.

A survey on location found that 33.3 percent of companies' headquarters are stationed in Seoul, and 32.1 percent in Gyeonggi-do, indicating that a majority is based in the metropolitan area.

The 159 vaccine companies can be classified into four main categories: finished products (29.6 percent), subsidiary materials (32.1 percent), vaccine equipment (15.1 percent) and related services (35.8 percent). Related services refer to OEM production, consignment development, consignment trials, transportation and storage.

Sales of domestic vaccines amounted to KRW 3.4 trillion, of which finished vaccines took up 2.7 trillion won, followed by subsidiary materials (86.5 billion won), related equipment (69.4 billion won) and related services (636.1 billion won).

Vaccine exports totaled 628.7 billion won, of which finished vaccines occupied 563.7 billion won, followed by subsidiary materials (141.0 billion won), related equipment (43.0 billion won) and services (76.3 billion won).

Investment (331.4 billion won) consisted of R&D investment (214.0 billion won) and facilities investment (117.4 billion won).

Survey on employment found that the number of people working for vaccine companies (limited to only vaccine-related departments) reached 10,758, made up of production personnel (4,715), R&D (2,772) and those categorized as "other" (3,271).

The Korean government plans to nurture the bio sector into a pillar industry via "scale-up", timely assistance for each growth cycle, and seamless support for the entire process of development, production and exports.