Shanghai. July 31. INTERFAX-CHINA - India's new anti-dumping duty on Chinese-produced antibiotic cefatriaxone will curb such exports, but may possibly lead to China exporting more of the antibiotic's raw ingredient to India in the second half, a pharmaceutical analyst told Interfax on July 29.

"Indian companies do not want Chinese cefatriaxone active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) manufacturers to export the drug to India as they want to produce the API themselves," said Ba Yanfeng, a pharmaceutical analyst from Web site Heathoo.com.

Yet, as more Indian companies start producing cefatriaxone, there will likely be an increase in the demand for 7-ACA, a chief ingredient used in the production of cefatriaxone. At present, China can produce 6,000 tons of 7-ACA per annum, and in 2007, about 5,000 tons of 7-ACA was sold in China.

India is currently a large importer of various antibiotic APIs that are produced in China, such as penicillin G, 7-ACA, and cefatriaxone.

Earlier this month, the Anti-dumping Directorate of India's Ministry of Commerce announced that it would raise the anti-dumping duty on Chinese cefatriaxone API exports to India from $65.08 per kilogram to $81.86 per kg. This move will force Chinese manufacturers to cut production as domestic demand for the API is not large, according to the analyst.

Moreover, China's penicillin G API exports are sluggish at the moment, according to healthoo.com data. "Indian companies currently hold enough stock of penicillin G, and Chinese companies are also reluctant to cut penicillin G prices," Ba said.

Since both penicillin G and cefatriaxone are not expected to undergo a boost in sales anytime soon, domestic antibiotic companies may step up efforts to increase the production and export of 7-ACA in the second half of this year in order to maintain profits, according to the analyst.

Companies can use the same production facilities to produce penicillin G or 7-ACA, which makes the shift in production feasible.

At present, major players in the market include Shijiazhuang Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd., Fujian Fukang Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd., Shanxi Weiqida Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd. and Zhuhai United Labs Co. Ltd.