Beximco's Share Prices Fall after Vaccine Export Banned by India

On Monday morning, Beximco Pharmaceuticals Limited's share prices dropped by 6.35% after India banned the export of Oxford's coronavirus vaccine on Sunday.

The share price fell down to Tk196.20 from Tk209.50 each in the first trading hour on Monday at the Dhaka Stock Exchange (DSE), reports media.

During this session, it secured top position in the turnover list with a value of Tk114 crore.

During this session, another firm, Beximco Limited, which holds Beximco Pharma's interest, also fell its share price by 1.91 percent to Tk61.50.

Senior officials of several brokerage firms said share prices have risen on vaccine import news in the last few months. But abruptly, India banned the sale of vaccines. Because of this, over investors selling pressure, the share price fell.

Earlier, on 5 November 2020, the Ministry of Health of Bangladesh signed with the Serum Institute of India and Beximco Pharmaceuticals Ltd a tripartite Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to import the vaccine under production by Oxford/AstraZeneca.

According to the agreement, in the initial six months of the first process, Serum was expected to provide three crore vaccine doses, 50 lakh per month.

After this agreement, Beximco Pharma's share price rose by 75% until 3 January this year.

However, Bangladesh foreign minister said that Bangladesh will get vaccine in time.

In an interview with AP on Sunday, India's Serum Institute's CEO Adar Poonawalla said, "The vaccine has been granted emergency authorisation by the Indian regulator on Sunday, but on the condition that Serum Institute doesn't export the shots to ensure that vulnerable populations in India are protected."