The general manager of drug distributor Farmexim has downwardly revised his budget in the wake of the reduction of distributor''s mark-ups.
The Romanian drug distribution market will benefit from the first foreign capital inflows only once domestic companies secure a base of loyal customers and the legislative framework in the domain is ready, believes Ovidiu Buluc, general manager of Farmexim company.
At present, most drug distribution companies are owned by Romanian investors.
The producer-buyer chain comprises importers, distributors and pharmacies. The world''s major drug producers, dominating the Romanian market, only have offices here, entities lacking legal status, for marketing operations.
Pharmacies and hospitals buy drugs from distributors and importers. These have in their turn developed pharmacy chains.
This is also the case of Farmexim, out of which the Help Net pharmacy chain emerged.
Farmexim foresees obtaining about 30% higher turnover from last year, in the context where the adjustment of distributors'' margins has produced a gap between the growth of physical sales, and the turnover registered by companies operating on the market.
Margins for prescription drugs have to remain within established maximum levels, and in September these were reduced by an average of one third by the authorities, through a ministerial order.
The order stipulates the thorough modification of maximum mark-ups for import, distribution and pharmacy activities, as well as the elimination of the previously existing devaluation margin, which stood at 5%.
"Our initial budget included total sales worth 285 million RON (80 million euros), but as drug prices were adjusted during the second half of the year, we also reduced our turnover projections to about 260 million RON," stated Ovidiu Buluc, the company''s majority shareholder.
The Farmexim chief also specified that physical sales grew faster than turnover.
Import mark-ups for companies operating on the market, in the case of prescription drugs, were slashed from 15 to 8.5%. In the case of drug retailers, the reduction of mark-ups is applied depending on the shelf price of pharmaceutical products.
Farmexim''s investment budget for the current year stands at around 2 million euros, focused upon the opening of three logistic centres at regional level and the expansion of the utility vehicle fleet to 200. alexandru.cerchez@zf.ro
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