The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said April 24 it found 32 companies nationwide that violated a government notice banning syringe hoarding, following a special inspection aimed at stabilizing distribution.
The ministry said it will file complaints and issue corrective orders against the companies and will continue to monitor compliance through follow-up inspections.
The ministry disclosed the results at a briefing at its Seoul regional office in Yangcheon-gu. The first round of inspections, conducted from April 20 to 22, targeted sellers with low sales compared with incoming stock, unusually large inventories, supplies concentrated on specific buyers, or sales at high prices.
Inspectors found four companies that stored syringes for at least five days in excess of 150% of their monthly average sales volume, and 30 companies that supplied excessive quantities to the same buyers. Two companies were found to have committed both types of violations.
One company was caught holding about 130,000 syringes for more than five days as inventory far exceeded its sales volume. The ministry ordered the excess stock to be shipped within 24 hours to online shopping malls experiencing shortages.
Another company was found to have supplied about 620,000 syringes — up to 59 times its monthly average sales volume — to 33 repeat buyers, including specific medical institutions and sellers.
Kim Myeong-ho, director general of the ministry’s Medical Device Safety Bureau, said the ministry will file complaints and issue corrective orders, and will immediately pursue additional complaints if violations are confirmed again during re-inspections.
The ministry said syringe production remains at normal levels compared with last year and that supply is not a problem. It said daily output averaged about 3.6 million units last year and has risen to more than 4.5 million this year. The ministry said it believes anxiety over recent supply instability led to hoarding at some points in the distribution chain.
The ministry said it is collecting data from about 1,000 companies and analyzing distribution routes to check whether supplies are being concentrated at specific firms.
It also said it is responding quickly to on-site enforcement through a reporting center where the public can report syringe hoarding.
The ministry said it will strengthen monitoring across manufacturing and distribution and continue cracking down on actions that disrupt distribution order and risk supply disruptions.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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