By Lee Kyung-min – The Korea Times
The pharmaceutical business of POSCO International, the general trading subsidiary of Korea’s largest steelmaker, POSCO, is expanding into Sudan, Africa, in what the firm says marks significant efforts to advance its social contribution drives, as well as profit generation.
The POSCO subsidiary said Thursday that General Medicines Company (GMC), a joint venture set up by POSCO International and Shin Poong Pharm, registered 30.1 billion won ($23.5 million) in sales and 10.3 billion won in operating profit in 2022.
Last year’s figures are the continuation of robust growth over the past two years. Annual sales and operating profit of the joint venture averaged 36 percent and 42 percent from 2020 to 2022, respectively.
It sold about 200 million medicine products last year. Over 100 varieties of medicines including capsules, tablets, ointments and syrups were produced and distributed throughout Sudan, a great contribution to medicine and healthcare access in the African nation.
POSCO International was the first Korean firm to enter markets in Africa in 1978. It took ten more years to establish the joint venture in 1988. The firm’s profit-motivated ambitions were put on hold for the betterment of the medical and healthcare needs of the Sudanese people, the POSCO subsidiary said.
The venture is best known for Distocide, an anthelmintic drug, used to treat animals infected with parasitic worms.
The entity has fortified its product lineups to include antibiotics, malaria treatments and diabetes and hypertension treatments, cementing it as the second-largest pharmaceutical firm in Sudan, with over 200 employees. The goal of the entity is to become the top player in the industry in the next 10 years.
POSCO International has a business presence in Sudan, South Africa, Nigeria, Algeria and three other African countries.
