Europe seeks 1,000 tonne paracetamol raw material from India: Pharmexcil

Europe has sought about 1,000 tonne of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) for paracetamol -- used commonly to treat body pain and fever -- from India, according to Pharmexcil.

Pharmaceutical Export Promotion Council of India (Pharmexcil) Chairman Dinesh Dua said National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has given its approval for the shipment of these APIs to Europe and now "the directorate general of foreign trade (DGFT) and ministry of external affairs has to take the call".

On April 17, the government removed restrictions on exports of medicines made from Paracetamol amid COVID-19 outbreak. However, there are restrictions on exports of Paracetamol active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs or raw materials).

To export a product, which is under restricted category, an exporter requires no-objection certificate or permission of a licence from the DGFT.

Dua said that on an average, Europe require about 1,000 tonne of these APIs per month and at one point of time India had exported about 1,400 tonne in a month in the past.

There is huge domestic availability of this raw material in the country as "we consume only about 2,000 tonnes per month and our production capacity is about 6,200 tonnes per month", he added.

India exported formulations made from Paracetamol worth USD 5.41 billion during April-January 2019-20. It was USD 5.8 billion in 2018-19.