In the first half of the year, China’s medical device imports showed a rapid recovery.

According to statistics from China Customs, in the first half of this year, China's medical equipment imports (3.515 billion U.S. dollars) increased by 28.15% year-on-year. According to the analysis of the increase in product imports, China’s imports of implantable orthopaedic devices, MRI imaging devices, and X-ray diagnostic equipment have increased significantly.

In the first half of the year, the import volume of products with a value of more than US$100 million was ranked by year-on-year.

1. The import volume of "MRI imaging apparatus" reached 163 million U.S. dollars, an increase of 45.29% over the same period of last year;

2. The import volume of X-ray tomograph was US$209 million, an increase of 42.04% over the same period of last year;

3. "Other appliances that make up for physical disabilities and wearable or implanted into the human body" imported $ 248 million, an increase of 41.65% over the same period of last year;

4. Imports of “X-ray generators, inspection furniture, and 9022 equipment parts” amounted to USD 191 million, an increase of 28.02% year-on-year;

5. Imports of "other medical, surgical or veterinary instruments and apparatus" amounted to US$ 232 million, a year-on-year increase of 26.45%;

6. The import value of “other needles, catheters, cannulas and similar products” reached US$207 million, a year-on-year increase of 25.64%;

7. The import volume of “other medical, surgical or veterinary X-ray equipment” reached US$252 million, an increase of 20.52% over the same period of last year;

8. The import value of “Spectrometer, spectrophotometer and spectrograph using optical ray” reached US$161 million, an increase of 20.42% over the same period of last year.

9. The import value of “Color Ultrasonic Diagnostic Instrument” reached US$231 million, an increase of 11.47% over the same period of last year.

In the first half of the year, Europe accounted for 38.59% of China's medical device import market. Among them, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and other European countries accounted for 6 seats of China's top 10 trading partners for medical equipment imports, with the United States, Japan, South Korea and Mexico occupying 4 other seats.

In the first half of the year, a total of 7,790 enterprises were engaged in the import of medical devices. Among them, Medtronic Medical Products Services (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., Shanghai Sankai Import & Export Co., Ltd., Shanghai Xiegu Import & Export Trade Co., Ltd., and China Medical Device Technology Service Company, St. Jude Medical Supplies (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. ranked among the top 5 medical device importers.

It should be noted that in the first half of the year, China’s imports of medical devices increased substantially compared with the same period of last year, and the foreign trade of medical devices in China during the same period last year was affected by the international financial crisis, which led to a relatively low base of comparison. Therefore, it is still a recovery growth. It is expected that the import and export of medical devices in China will maintain an increase of over 15% in 2010, and the total import and export of medical devices will exceed US$20 billion.