A new Citigroup Global Markets report on China’s medical device and technology industries expects the market to reach $5 billion in 2012, due primarily to increased hospital purchasing budgets, government investments in hospital upgrades and expansion, and robust hospital construction cycles in China through 2015.

Citi surveyed 383 Chinese hospitals across 29 provinces, and examined 11 medical equipment segments such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), ultrasounds, tomography devices and radiography devices.

Leading segments

The report identified MRI, computed tomography, color ultrasound and digital radiography as the largest medical device segments in China, with health growth prospects; black-and-white ultrasound device purchasing, on the other hand, is expected to decline going forward.

Market dominated by foreign manufacturers

The Citi report also found that multinational medical device manufacturers continue to dominate the Chinese market across 10 of the 11 segments examined. Only in the patient monitoring device sector do domestic firms outnumber foreign ones. This trend will likely continue, as well: more than 80% of hospital respondents to Citi’s survey indicated a preference for multinational medical equipment when it comes to purchasing. Foreign manufacturers with sizeable Chinese market share include GE, Phillips, Siemens, while the biggest domestic firms include Mindray, Wangdong and Aeon.