Yuhan sets record-breaking deals and exports

Signs KRW 210.2 billion export deal with Gilead…largest single contract ever

Export performance hit record high last year…doubled versus 3 years ago

Export share rose from 9% to 18% over 5 years…Yuhan Chemical also expands facilities amid strong growth

Yuhan Corp’s active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) export business is continuing its strong momentum. The company secured its largest-ever single contract worth over KRW 200 billion. Through supply agreements signed since last year, Yuhan has already secured API export sales approaching KRW 300 billion for this year. As multinational pharmaceutical companies increasingly recognize the quality of Yuhan’s APIs, the company has continued landing major contracts, more than doubling overseas sales compared to five years ago. Yuhan Chemical, which manufactures and supplies the APIs, is also accelerating factory expansion efforts after repeatedly posting record-breaking performances.

According to the Financial Supervisory Service on the 20th, Yuhan signed a KRW 210.2 billion API supply agreement with Gilead Sciences. The contract amount corresponds to 9.91% of the company’s recent revenue.

The contract period runs from May 19, 2026 through December 31, 2027. Yuhan purchases APIs manufactured by its subsidiary, Yuhan Chemical, and exports them to multinational pharmaceutical companies. Under the structure, Yuhan secures orders from global pharmaceutical firms, while Yuhan Chemical handles the actual production.

Yuhan Corp’s main API supply agreements (Source: Financial Supervisory Service) *AI-generated image

This marks the largest single API export contract in Yuhan’s history. The previous record was a KRW 140 billion antibiotic API supply agreement signed with Wyeth in 2007. Yuhan has now broken its own record for the largest single contract after 19 years.

If the supply volume is exhausted within the contract period of one year and seven months, this implies average monthly sales of over KRW 10 billion.  

Since 2024, Yuhan Corp has secured a series of large-scale API supply agreements. Most of these contracts are with Gilead.

In September 2024, Yuhan signed a KRW 107.7 billion HIV treatment API supply agreement with Gilead.

Last year alone, Yuhan signed three separate API supply agreements with Gilead totaling KRW 258.1 billion. In May this year, the company also finalized a KRW 56 billion API supply agreement with BridgeBio Pharma. Industry analysts believe repeated large-scale contracts reflect multinational pharmaceutical companies’ confidence in Yuhan’s API quality and stable supply capabilities.

All API supply agreements signed since last year are expected to generate revenue this year. A contract signed with Gilead in May last year scheduled KRW 88.8 billion in supplies from May 2025 through December 2026.

Another KRW 84.3 billion contract signed in August last year covers supply from March 2026 through February 2027. In addition, a KRW 85 billion HCV treatment API supply agreement signed in August last year will generate sales over a two-year period beginning this May. Assuming supplies proceed as scheduled, Yuhan is expected to secure more than KRW 280 billion in overseas sales this year alone.

Yuhan’s overseas business revenue has expanded significantly amid strong API export growth.

The company’s overseas business revenue reached KRW 386.5 billion last year, up 26.1% year-on-year. After surpassing KRW 300 billion for the first time in 2024 and setting a new record for the first time in seven years since 2017, the company achieved a second consecutive annual record high. Compared to export sales of KRW 182 billion in 2022, Yuhan’s export revenue more than doubled within three years, reflecting a steep growth trajectory over the past three years.

AI-generated image

Yuhan recorded export sales in the KRW 200 billion range for four consecutive years from 2016 to 2019, but this dropped to KRW 144.9 billion in 2020. Exports rebounded to KRW 156.2 billion in 2021, up 7.9% year-on-year, and have continued rising for five consecutive years through last year. In the first quarter of this year, overseas business revenue reached KRW 106 billion, up 21.4% from the same period last year, maintaining the upward trend.

While overseas operations accounted for only 8.9% of Yuhan’s total revenue in 2020, this share has risen for five consecutive years, reaching 17.7% last year.

Yuhan Chemical, which supplies APIs to Yuhan, is also posting strong results.

Yuhan Chemical recorded KRW 289.7 billion in sales last year, up 36.5% from KRW 212.3 billion the previous year, while operating profit rose 89.9% year-on-year to KRW 22.9 billion. Operating margin improved by 2.2 percentage points to 7.9%. Compared to sales of KRW 149.5 billion in 2022, last year’s revenue nearly doubled within three years. Operating profit during the same period more than tripled from KRW 6.6 billion.

Yuhan Chemical is also accelerating its expansion plans to increase production capacity. In April last year, the company completed the expansion of the HB building at its Hwaseong plant, securing production capacity of 995,000 liters. The facility is equipped with continuous manufacturing systems and data-integrity-based infrastructure, earning recognition for achieving global-level quality competitiveness. This has enabled the company to establish a one-stop response system covering everything from small-scale clinical manufacturing to large-scale commercial production.

Additional expansion is also underway. Yuhan Chemical is building an HC facility at the Hwaseong plant with a capacity of 292,000 liters. Construction is scheduled to begin this year, with operations targeted for the first half of 2028. Upon completion, Yuhan Chemical’s total production capacity is expected to expand to 11,287,000 liters. Through this, the company aims to secure manufacturing infrastructure capable of responding to growing global CDMO demand while strengthening its mid- to long-term growth momentum.