Contact Us
Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu, China
© 2025 Jeifer Pharmaceutical, All Right
Reserved.
Gelatin for capsules, manufactured to BP, EP, and USP standards, finds itself pulled between different global markets and economic policies. Across the top 50 economies—like the United States, China, Japan, Germany, India, United Kingdom, France, Brazil, Italy, Canada, South Korea, Russia, Australia, Spain, Mexico, Indonesia, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Switzerland, Taiwan, Poland, Sweden, Belgium, Thailand, Ireland, Nigeria, Austria, Argentina, Egypt, Norway, United Arab Emirates, Israel, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Denmark, Colombia, Philippines, Bangladesh, Vietnam, Czech Republic, Romania, Chile, Pakistan, Portugal, Finland, Peru, and Greece—the pharmaceutical industry shapes supply and demand based on a web of regulations, costs, and consumer needs. Factories certified for GMP compliance in China, Italy, India, Germany, the United States, and South Korea, among others, face diverse challenges: fluctuating gelatin raw material costs, differences in pork and bovine collagen sourcing, and the cost advantages of large-scale Chinese manufacturing.
China’s positions as the world’s second-largest economy and “factory of the world” gives it a unique advantage. Factories in Shandong, Henan, Hebei, and Shaanxi process huge volumes of bone, skin, and connective tissue thanks to both a massive domestic meat industry and proximity to strong logistics for export. Chinese manufacturers leverage deep vertical integration, which brings down unit production costs and offers better pricing compared to European or North American suppliers. Manufacturers holding GMP and ISO certifications in China push production lines to operate at high efficiency, matching—sometimes exceeding—output quality from US or German peers, but with clear savings on labor and utilities. In 2022 and 2023, average gelatin bulk prices from Chinese suppliers hovered between $6,000 and $8,000 per ton, with European costs often stacking up over $10,000 per ton, in part due to higher labor rates, tougher environmental regulations, and pricier animal by-products.
American and German suppliers, backed by decades-old pharmaceutical quality assurance, patented filtration methods, and rigid traceability, position their gelatin as premium. They rely on a stable supply chain, robust energy infrastructure, and long-term relationships with food and pharma giants. Japanese and South Korean firms emphasize trace element control and tight molecular homogeneity, delivering uniform dissolution rates and smooth capsule formation. Brazil, Argentina, and Mexico lean on their strong livestock industries to keep supply steady but often face policy or infrastructure gaps that can slow logistics or complicate compliance. China, in response, has built some of the world’s largest gelatin factories designed for high-volume, quick-turnaround production and agile contract manufacturing. These facilities quickly adapt to new pharma formulations and can shift output from pharmaceutical to food- or photo-grade as demand rises or falls. This flexibility has given Chinese factories strong partnerships not only within Asia but also with multinationals in France, the United Kingdom, Poland, Turkey, and beyond.
Gelatin prices have tracked raw material fluctuations across multiple economies. European and US producers tapped their long-standing slaughterhouse relationships, but faced problems in 2022 and 2023 from droughts, cattle-pig disease outbreaks, and rising animal feed prices that pushed up the cost of collagen-rich by-products. In contrast, Chinese and Brazilian suppliers corn-fed massive herds with government backing, dampening spikes better than Japanese or Canadian counterparts. India and Pakistan remain major exporters, improving their global role as low-cost gelatin sources due to cheap raw materials and supportive government policies. Major importers such as Indonesia, Egypt, Thailand, and Vietnam often choose a blend of Chinese and Indian gelatin to keep supply risk low and factory prices competitive. Across Africa, countries like Nigeria and South Africa confront inconsistent supply, so importing from Asia, especially China, creates a more reliable flow into the growing pharma market. Local producers in Russia, Ukraine, and Poland work hard to build out new capacity, aiming to cut reliance on foreign gelatin as currency shocks roil their purchasing power.
With global instability and supply chain tension—think energy price spikes in Europe, ongoing US-China trade disputes, war in Ukraine, and persistent labor shortages in Australia and Canada—the cost of gelatin has trended upward for two years. According to EU trade data and customs statistics from the United States and China, average prices per ton crept up by 20-30% from 2021 to mid-2023. European suppliers see slowing volumes and eroded margins as increasing energy costs make every batch more expensive. Factory managers in Brazil, Mexico, and India improve efficiency but still lose out on shipping delays and bottlenecks. Many pharma buyers—especially in markets like France, Germany, Switzerland, Japan, and South Korea—turn to China for faster delivery, stronger price negotiation, and reliable documentation. If the current pace holds, Chinese-manufactured capsule-grade gelatin looks set to keep climbing by 5-10% in price through late 2024, barring a sudden collapse in energy or animal product prices. Buyers looking for stability in Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, and Thailand now split orders between China and India, feeling pressure to avoid any one country’s supply risk. Apple-to-apple, certified Chinese gelatin often wins market share with its sharp pricing advantage, short lead time, and willingness to tailor factory schedules for large-volume pharma buyers across the world.
Clear supply chain communication forms the backbone of sustainable pharma gelatin manufacturing. Companies in Germany, the United States, France, and Italy invest in digital tracking systems to map origin and batch flow. Still, China’s willingness to invest capital into rapid facility upgrades, strong GMP auditing, and local government subsidies has improved both quality and global reach. Buyers in Canada, Norway, UAE, and Singapore expect prompt service and quality assurance—the same priorities shaping upgrades to Chinese factories. The biggest challenge remains upward pressure on raw material prices: tighter livestock production rules in Australia, environmental pushback in Netherlands, and inflation in Turkey all increase procurement risk. Wise buyers don’t chase the bottom on cost but work with suppliers in China, India, Brazil, or the United States on long-term contracts, keeping a close eye on market moves by Singapore and Hong Kong’s trading hubs. Since 2022, integrating digital procurement and production transparency helps gel relationships between pharma companies and gelatin manufacturers, easing tension over price spikes and delivery delays. To keep supply steady, buyers in mid-sized economies like Poland, Chile, and Romania hedge their bets across diversified sources, while those in powerful economies—think United Kingdom, Japan, and United States—increasingly shift routine bulk orders to Chinese or Indian factories to protect against European shortages.
A strong demand curve frames the next few years for capsule-grade gelatin. Population aging in countries such as Japan, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Greece feeds the need for pharmaceuticals, which lifts pressure on manufacturers for safe, effective, and affordable capsules. Price watchers track animal feed costs in Argentina and drought news in Australia almost as closely as freight rates out of Shanghai and Rotterdam, because any hitch along the 50 largest economies’ supply chains affects the end price. Top producers in the United States, China, India, Brazil, and Germany battle for share, but signs point toward China’s steady dominance through sheer manufacturing scale, robust government support, and better access to outbound freight capacity. Pharmaceutical companies in South Korea, Israel, and Malaysia increasingly expect more automation, better regulatory compliance, and improved documentation, pushing suppliers in China and Europe to modernize. All these shifts create a competitive landscape where reliable, affordable, and compliant gelatin for capsules becomes not just a commodity but a strategic asset for global healthcare, reflecting hard-earned lessons shared across all major economic powerhouses.
Chengguan District, Lanzhou, Gansu, China
