Global Ketoprofen prices surged in July 2025 after a steep drop earlier in the year, marking a clear supply-demand shift. The initial fall was driven by India’s veterinary-use ban, post-COVID inventory corrections, Chinese price controls, and USFDA scrutiny. By mid-year, depleted Chinese inventories, higher production costs, plant shutdowns, and Red Sea shipping delays tightened supply. India’s DPCO 2025 price caps, rising geriatric demand, and cosmetic sector recovery further pushed prices up. Analysts expect continued increases as markets stabilize and inventories are strategically rebuilt.
The global market of Ketoprofen has been characterized by a sharp change in the dynamic related to prices as they soar in July 2025 after a drastic plummet in the first months of the year. This trend is an indication of a paradigm shift in the supply-demand balance that the stakeholders in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and the pain management sectors cannot just ignore.
Ketoprofen is a paramount non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), which is an indispensable active pharmaceutical ingredient in topical products, injectable treatments, and veterinary practice. The initial months of year 2025 brought unchallenged times to the Ketoprofen producers and distributors. To an incredible extent, prices needed to collapse between January and June guided by regulatory ban imposed by India of veterinary use of Ketoprofen which caused unprecedented destocking in domestic marketplaces. The result of this regulatory change was felt especially in the generic API manufacturers and led to a scenario where there was excess supply of the API which has put pressure on Ketoprofen pricing structures globally.
The fall of the Ketoprofen market was worsened by post-COVID inventory adjustments when drug makers around the world adjusted stockpiles after years of panic buying during the pandemic. This trend towards lowering the price of Ketoprofen was enhanced by the heightened scrutiny measures being enacted by the USFDA over Indian pharma exporters, whereby compliance pressure rose and reduced pricing capabilities. Aggressive drug price negotiation policies imposed by China in 2024 remained active in 2025, causing average price reductions of 63% of the range of different pharmaceutical compounds.
The turning point in the recovery of Ketoprofen market was July 2025. Shortage in the global supply chains started to worsen as the Chinese excess inventories were being consumed and production expenses were increasing steadily. The Indian manufacturers that have redesigned their export systems in the downturn have seen their raw material costs and the cost of regulatory compliance and they are being applied directly to the buyers of Ketoprofen.
The trend in the manufacturing crystallized heavily in favor of Ketoprofen manufacturers in late June and early July. A number of large domestic manufacturers of Ketoprofen had scheduled shutdowns and reduced output and production. The continuous crisis at the Red Sea led to vessels being diverted to Europe via Africa, which added 14-18 days in transiting and increasing fuel consumptions exorbitant cost to shipping costs of Ketoprofen.
Ketoprofen market rebound is more than transient supply crane. The order, which took effect in April, revised the ceiling prices of hundreds of formulations in the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 2025 of India. These price caps, although aimed at maintaining prices affordable, led to the pressure on the profit margin, causing the companies to change Ketoprofen pricing strategies upwards on the non-ceiling drug formulations.
The growth in demand of geriatric population, gaining popularity in topical and injectable administration, and resurgence in downstream industries such as the cosmetic brands and pain management have also played prominent role in increasing pricing patterns of Ketoprofen.
As per ChemAnalyst, Ketoprofen prices will further rise by August and beyond or until pharmaceutical markets stabilize around the globe. Pricing models are being reconfigured to incorporate increased costs of inputs and the planned strategic rebuild inventory, indicating that the Ketoprofen recovery is structural and not short-term volatility.
