The European Union (EU) produced antibiotics worth €2 970 million in 2018. Italy was the EU’s biggest producer of antibiotics, accounting for over a third of all antibiotics produced in the EU in 2018 (€1 020 million worth of antibiotics, 34% of the EU total).
The source dataset is accessible here.
In terms of trade, the EU Member States imported antibiotics worth €5 030 million in 2018, over half of which (57%, or €2 870 million) came from non-EU Member States. Compared with 2008, the value of imports of antibiotics to the EU Member States increased by 34%.
€3 030 million of antibiotics were exported by the EU Member States, almost two thirds of which (60%, or €1 810 billion) went to other EU Member States. Compared to 2008, this represents a 13% decrease in the value of EU Member States’ total exports.
Germany, the largest importer of antibiotics
In 2018, Germany imported €710 million worth of antibiotics from non-EU Member States. These imports account for a quarter (25%) of total extra-EU imports of antibiotics imports by value, which makes Germany the largest EU importer of antibiotics from non-EU countries. Behind Germany were the Netherlands (€590 million, 21%) and Italy (€530 million, 19%), followed by Belgium (€320 million, 11%), the United Kingdom (€190 million, 7%), Spain (€180 million, 6%) and France (€130 million, 5%).
The source dataset is accessible here.
Switzerland, the main origin of imported antibiotics
Imports of antibiotics from non-EU countries came mainly from Switzerland (€1 120 million, or 39% of total extra-EU antibiotics), China (€660 million, 23%) and the United States (€600 million, 21%), followed by Japan (€120 million, 4%), Singapore (€90 million, 3%), India and South Korea (both €80 million, almost 3%).
Italy, largest exporter of antibiotics
Among EU Member States, Italy exported antibiotics worth €440 million to non-EU Member States in 2018, representing over a third (36%) of total extra-EU exports of antibiotics by value. This makes Italy the largest extra-EU exporter of antibiotics, ahead of Ireland (€190 million, 16%), followed by Spain (€100 million, 8%), Belgium (€80 million, 6%) and Denmark (€70 million, almost 6%).
Note:
- Trade data: Due to quasi-transit trade, the adding of intra-EU trade and extra-EU trade may lead to double counting. An example of this would be antibiotics imported from China via the Netherlands, where they are cleared by customs for free circulation, before being dispatched to Germany. This would lead to the same antibiotics being counted as imports by both the Netherlands and Germany. More precisely, they would appear in the Netherlands' extra-EU imports from China and intra-EU exports to Germany and in Germany's intra-EU imports from the Netherlands.
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