"The demand for low-end X-ray equipment, such as analogue general radiography, will remain fairly stable over the next few years because the Chinese government will keep investing in rural healthcare, which often lacks basic medical equipment. However, there is tremendous demand for high-end X-ray equipment, especially mobile C-arms and digital radiography," said Owen Tang, a Shanghai-based analyst from InMedica (Wellingborough, UK), an international market research company. "In fact, shipments of digital radiography systems [flat panel detector (FPD) and charged coupled device (CCD)] in China are forecast to almost triple over the period 2007 to 2012."

Multinational companies play a key role in China's high-end X-ray equipment market, including cardiovascular, fluoroscopy, mobile C-arm, and digital radiography. For example, more than 80% of the digital radiography market is served by multinational suppliers. The third-level hospitals have strict requirements for X-ray equipment and the local manufacturers find it hard to compete. The local manufacturers of digital radiography systems, such as Beijing Wandong and Beijing Zhongke Meilun, chiefly compete in the low-end of the market with systems priced under $100,000. These are well suited to China's any second level hospitals.

Distributors play a key role in the Chinese X-ray equipment market, according to InMedica analysts, as Chinese-style customer relationships are extremely important. It is estimated that more than 85% of equipment sales are through distributors.

InMedica is the medical electronics research division of IMS Research, a specialist supplier of market research and consultancy services on a wide range of global electronics markets. The company, headquartered in Wellingborough, UK, is supported by offices in Austin, TX, USA, and Shanghai, China. InMedica publishes research on professional point-of-care markets, such as ultrasound and X-ray equipment; consumer medical devices such as blood-pressure monitors and heart-rate monitors, and a wide range of other medical devices, including patient monitors, aesthetic devices, and diagnostic ophthalmology equipment.

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