Consumers are increasingly adopting a preventative approach to maintaining good health, which continues to drive interest in vitamins and dietary supplements in 2023. Established brands continue to dominate sales as brand loyalty is relatively high for categories like analgesics and digestive remedies, although opportunities are still present in emerging categories like paediatric consumer health.
Prices of imported OTC brands increased in Myanmar in 2022 due to the depreciation of the local currency against the US dollar and the military-led State Administration Council (SAC) administration’s policy changes in the application of import permits for medicines. Prices have continued to rise in 2023 with the country continuing to experience elevated rates of inflation due to various factors including the lingering impact of the pandemic and Russia’s war in Ukraine, which in turn is limiting demand as consumers have become more price sensitive.
Myanmar’s public health system is collapsing under the military regime, and a shortage of personnel means it could be years before it recovers. Self-medication rates are therefore rising as the public healthcare system has largely collapsed after the coup while private healthcare remains expensive as most consumers do not have health insurance and are paying out-of-pocket for medical expenses.
The coup in 2021 had a big impact on Myanmar’s economy leading to a drop in purchasing power. Households remain price sensitive in 2023 and many are looking to cut costs, including spending on medical bills, with OTC drugs becoming a more cost-effective solution for many households across the country.
In Myanmar, the vast majority of pharmaceuticals, including OTC, are imported, mainly from neighbouring countries such as China, India, Pakistan, and Thailand. The Ministry of Commerce previously handled import applications; however, since April 2022, the military-led government ordered that pharmaceutical importers are required to seek approval from the Central Committee on Ensuring Smooth Flow of Trade and Goods, its work committee, and the Ministry of Health.
Medicines are registered under one of four drug schedules in Myanmar: OTC, Prescription Only, Limited Controlled and Highly Controlled. OTC schedules are provided to all pharmacies and drugstores/parapharmacies, although most of these retail outlets also sell a wide range of unregistered products.
Vitamins and dietary supplements should also be registered with the FDA. However, in practice a wide range of unregistered products are available in the country as a result of the expensive and time-consuming process of FDA registration.
Retail prices of OTC medicines are expected to continue increasing over the forecast period which will impact on demand with consumer purchasing power already under significant pressure. In some cases product prices are already double what they were before the 2021 military coup and thus this is likely to prevent some lower-income households from accessing consumer health products.
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Consumer Health
It is the aggregation of OTC, Vitamins and Dietary Supplements (VDS), Sports Nutrition, and Weight Management and Wellbeing
See All of Our DefinitionsThis report originates from Passport, our Consumer Health research and analysis database.
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