Growing up Fast: Brazil Eyes $1B in Medical Exports in 2015

Talk about déjà vu. Ten years ago, Brazilian government officials and representatives of the country’s fledgling healthcare equipment industry launched a medical export strategy at Medica, a four-day trade show held in Düsseldorf, Germany. The launch marked Brazil’s entrance into the global medical manufacturing market, a lucrative yet competitive sector that was dominated largely by developed nations.

On Nov. 17, history repeated itself as representatives of Brazil’s healthcare equipment industry launched a medical equipment export strategy at Medica 2011 The World Forum for Medicine in Düsseldorf. Like their predecessors, this latest group of Brazilian healthcare honchos set lofty goals for the industry and touted the advantages of establishing manufacturing operations within the country’s borders.

Unlike their predecessors though, this group of healthcare representatives has good reason to believe the industry will achieve most of the government’s goals: In just 10 years, revenues in Brazil’s health equipment industry have grown 244 percent and the number of countries buying Brazilian-manufactured equipment has increased more than four-fold. During the first half of 2011, the country’s health equipment industry grew 8 percent and total medical revenues have climbed from $2.45 billion in 2005 to $3.86 in 2010. Revenues are expected to reach $4.8 billion this year.

‘‘The middle class is expanding significantly in Brazil,’’ Paulo Henrique Fraccaro, vice president of ABIMO (the Brazilian Medical Devices Manufacturers Association) said during a news conference. ‘‘That is good for our country because when the middle class increases, the life expectancy increases too, because people tend to invest more in education and in their health.’’

The middle class also is increasing in China and other developing nations, giving Fraccaro and others in Brazil’s medical device sector hope that the country can achieve its goal of exporting a total of $1 billion in healthcare products by 2015. According to data presented at the news conference, medical-related exports in Brazil have ballooned over the last six years, going from $407.1 million in 2005 to an expected total of $696.4 million in 2011. U.S. exports in 2010 totaled $141.9 million and represented 22.4 percent of all national health equipment exports.

Though it has the largest economy and medical device market in Latin America, per capita medical expenditures in Brazil are still very low. The country has the second-largest private health insurance sector in the Western Hemisphere after the United States. Nearly all of the country’s citizens are covered by private or public health insurance plans, making it a potentially lucrative market for domestic healthcare product sales.

To remain competitive in the market, however, Brazil must expand its international footprint. As part of the rapidly-growing quartet of emerging markets known as the BRICs (Brazil, Russia, India and China), Brazil is well-positioned to capitalize on the trend of offshoring and outsourcing. But Fraccaro and his colleagues would rather not base the industry’s growth on companies looking for low-cost manufacturing solutions. They want to attract foreign firms and cultivate their own medical device industry to further cement Brazil’s position on the international stage.

In an effort to attract more interest, ABIMO and Apex-Brazil debuted the country’s new umbrella brand name for the medical sector – Brazilian Health Devices. The new brand name and logo, according to a slide Fraccaro presented at the news conference, represents reliable technology and integrity as well as a commitment to life and the Brazilian flag, emphasizes the industry’s origin and reinforces the sector’s main objective: improving health.

‘‘The brand name, Brazilian Health Devices, will encompass the different sectors exporting medical equipment, allowing us to supply products with easy-to-access technology, coming from a diversified industry which can offer commercial flexibility to consumers,’’ said Paula Portugal, manager for international projects at ABIMO.

To mark the country’s 10-year anniversary in the global medical market and to celebrate the launch of its new growth strategy, Brazilian healthcare representatives hosted a dinner for 200 guests inside the Medica exhibition center.