Market size and growth

Size: In 2025, the market size of pharmaceutical-grade hydroxypropyl methylcellulose in China is about 4.5 billion yuan, and it is expected to grow to 6.8 billion yuan by 2030, with a compound annual growth rate of 8.6%.

Growth drivers: First, the overall expansion of the pharmaceutical industry, the continuous expansion of the scale of China's pharmaceutical market, and the significant increase in the demand for pharmaceutical excipients in the fields of biological drugs and modern Chinese medicine. Second, the application ratio of pharmaceutical HPMC in high-end dosage forms such as sustained-release preparations and targeted drug delivery systems continues to increase. Third, the policy dividends continue to be released, and the dynamic adjustment mechanism of the national medical insurance catalog and the priority review policy for innovative drugs have indirectly driven the development of the supporting excipient industry.

Competitive landscape

Increasing market concentration: China's market concentration will continue to increase, and the share of CR5 companies is expected to increase from 58% in 2025 to 65% in 2030. The competition between multinational companies and local leaders in the high-end market will be fierce. At present, there are only 12 domestic HPMC manufacturers that have passed DMF filing, of which Shandong Heda, Lotte Chemical, and Shin-Etsu Chemical account for a total of 78% of the market share.

Regional distribution: The Yangtze River Delta region contributes 53% of the national production capacity with its complete biopharmaceutical industry cluster, of which GMP-certified production lines in Suzhou, Shanghai, and Hangzhou account for 67% of the total. In the next five years, the construction of production bases in Wuhan and Chengdu in the central and western regions will receive support from local government special bonds, and the proportion of production capacity is expected to increase from the current 12% to 25%.