UAE consumers increasingly prefer European-produced imported medicine for their high quality and competitive price, according to a 2013 pharmaceutical industry report.

The report from investment bank Alpen Capital stated that between 2008 and 2011, pharmaceutical imports from the European Union into the GCC expanded at a compound annual growth rate of 18.3 per cent.

The UAE has the GCC’s highest annual medicine sales per capita at $282, and the GCC’s second-largest pharmaceuticals market at $1.6 billion, both as of 2012, the report said.

The UAE and GCC rely heavily on imported medicine, which makes up about 85 per cent of the total drugs sold in the country, it said.

Khalid Amin, regional director for Spanish pharmaceutical company Cinfa, said: “Europe is among the largest exporters of medicine to the UAE, as doctors, pharmacists, and patients increasingly trust European-produced drugs. The main reason is the strict production and testing standards for drugs in Europe.”

The pharmaceutical sector is just one of many that has grown recently between Spain and the UAE. From 2010 to 2012, bi-lateral trade between the two countries increased by 75 per cent, according to the UAE-Spain Joint Economic Committee.

Jaime Montalvo, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the Spanish Embassy in UAE, said:  “The steady rise in Spanish companies doing business here is due to growing market opportunities and to the UAE’s business-friendly regulatory framework.” - TradeArabia News Service