Indian Pharma industry has been enduring tremendous hike in raw material cost since prolong time. Major downstream users were heard urging government to examine this steep price escalation for several commodities. Calcium Citrate is one of the products that has encountered such steep rise in raw material Citric Acid cost, compelling them to revise their offers to sustain margins.

Coal shortage and energy related policies across China has impacted the production activities of several facilities, inducing shortage of several commodities including feedstock Citric Acid in Asia. Furthermore, “along with shortage of material, freight congestion was another factor behind the consistent rise in prices of raw material imported from China”, stated a market respondent. Indian MSME sectors was highly affected by these price hikes, as Calcium Citrate is a common raw material consumed by pharma as well as other sectors too. Festive season, especially Diwali usually increase the demand for raw material Citric Acid, as being highly used product by sugar toy manufacturers. Therefore, high demand coupled with inadequate supplies from China led to a steep inclination in price of raw material, which eventually affected Calcium Citrate prices in India.

As per IDMA (The Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association), these price hikes in raw material have marked tremendous dent on their profitability. Furthermore, inflationary pressure across global market is also compelling them to transfer this price burden on consumers. Thus, they urged government bodies to allow them raising their drug prices for Indian consumers.

 As per ChemAnalyst analysis, steep hike of around 7% has been observed in Calcium Citrate prices within past 3 months. Market may witness further price escalation for Calcium Citrate and API raw materials in forthcoming month, as current demand supply scenario will take time to vanish from Asian market. Besides, triggered warning for Omicron variant corona virus has raised concerns over cross border trades.