Pharmacy

A World Trade Organization (WTO) panel has ruled China's export limits on raw materials, including some with pharma uses, as unfair after claims they drive up prices.

In 2009, the US and Europe followed by Mexico, began a WTO dispute claiming export restrictions disadvantage foreign companies by driving up prices. This, in turn, gives Chinese companies an advantage, said me complainants.

A panel was appointed for the same. They sided with the complainants and recommended that China stops levying the export duties and quotas. Ron Kirk, US trade representative, said, "China's policies provide substantial competitive advantages for downstream Chinese industries. They have also caused massive distortions and harmful disruptions in supply chains throughout the global marketplace." Raw materials covered by the ruling include zinc, magnesium, manganese, bauxite, coke, fluorspar, and silicon carbide, silicon metal and yellow phosphorus.