A worker works at Taikang Pharmaceutical Group in Shizuishan City, northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, March 22, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Peng)
More than 80 percent of China's pharmaceutical ingredients production has resumed, the vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said.
BEIJING, March 30 (Xinhua) -- China will strive to maintain the stable domestic production of active pharmaceutical ingredients and ensure the security of the global supply chain, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said Monday.
Currently, more than 80 percent of China's pharmaceutical ingredients production has resumed, with the output of some products having surpassed the level recorded in the same period last year, Xin Guobin, vice minister of the MIIT, told a press briefing.
A worker is busy on the medicine production line at the workshop of Hubei Tianyao Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. in Xiangyang, central China's Hubei Province, March 16, 2020.(Photo by Xie Jianfei/Xinhua)
In particular, China has prioritized the supply of drugs used to combat COVID-19, he said.
Having more than 1,500 production enterprises, China is the world's largest producer and exporter of pharmaceutical ingredients with an annual output of around 3 million tonnes, according to the vice minister.
The MIIT will further solve difficulties facing enterprises, enhance coordination with relevant international agencies and work to increase the supply to the international market, he said. ■