By Mustafa Hassan
The ultrasound market is forecast to recover in 2023 from the supply chain and macroeconomic issues that impacted the market in 2022. Vendors now have better control of their supply chains and are starting to address their order backlogs. The recovery will be boosted by new product releases in the last 12 months driving increased demand. These macro-influences also impacted regional markets to varying degrees — our roundup of the main geographical market changes is outlined below.
Western Europe – Growth in local currency, but a market decline in USD
Despite supply chain challenges, the energy crisis and rising inflation in 2022, the Western European ultrasound market is estimated to have grown in local currency terms. However, when looking at the market in USD, it is estimated to have declined.
Several Western European countries are looking to improve the quality of healthcare offered, supporting a more positive outlook near-term and helping limit declines in most markets in 2022. The Italian government has allocated €125 billion to the national health system, France has an initiative to create a more integrated health system, the Ma Santé 2022 strategy, which is supported by €3.4 billion of government funding. The U.K. government has pledged to allocate £2.3 billion to an initiative aimed at increasing diagnostic services capacity in the NHS and clearing the backlog of scans from the COVID pandemic.
The EU framework change from MDD (Medical Devices Directive) to MDR (Medical Device Regulation) has caused a headache for vendors, creating a backlog in obtaining commercial approval for new products in the EU, with delays of around 6 months. This has had the biggest impact on smaller vendors, some of whom may be trying to release their first product.
Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa: Russia market propped up by Chinese vendors
The Eastern European market was estimated to have declined in 2022, driven by the heavy decline in the Russian market because of the sanctions imposed after its invasion of Ukraine. However, the decline in Russia was not as high as initially estimated, with the loss of business from Western vendors partially offset by increased sales to Chinese vendors. Elsewhere, the reduction of EU funding has slowed market growth in other Eastern European countries, starting from the second half of 2022.
