From the Newsroom*
São Paulo – Brazilian imports of medical-hospital equipment reached US$ 1.78 billion between January and November last year, according to figures supplied by the Brazilian Association of Medical Equipment Importers (Abimed). The figure is already 11.8% greater than total imports in the whole of 2005, which, according to the organization, was US$ 1.592 billion.
A study by the Abimed shows that last year imports reached US$ 1.8 billion. Official figures are not yet available. The value is greater than the organization had forecasted. Perspectives for the year of 2007, according to the Abimed president, David Neale, are for imports to grow over 10%. That is, they should be close to US$ 1.98 billion. "If exchange rates remain at the same level," he said.
According to the president at the Abimed, the figures for 2006 are considered positive. They could, however, according to Neale, be greater if there had not been a customs and sanitary inspection officer strike in 2006. "This directly influenced our sector imports and the economy as a whole," stated Neale, in a press statement about the strikes.
There are no studies about what countries supply medical and hospital equipment to Brazil. Produces in Arab countries, however, have been coming to the country to sell their products. A delegation of 16 Egyptian producers of medical-hospital equipment participated in the Hospitalar, a fair in the sector that took place in the second half of last year.
A total of 111 companies are associated to Abimed. They operate in the audiology, neurology, ophthalmology, otorhinolaryngology, cardiology, gastrology, image diagnosis, laboratories, nephrology, urology, orthopaedics, traumatology, oncology, surgery instruments and pharmaceutical areas. The companies associated to Abimed currently employ 8,000 people. Of this total, 76.7% are direct employees and 23.3% are indirect.
Abimed
Telephone: (+55 11) 5092 2568
Site: www.abimed.org.br
*Translated by Mark Ament
