Between 2002 and 2021, exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products in the EU have grown considerably, more than imports, which also displayed a steady growth. Exports have increased from €50 billion in 2002 to €235 billion in 2021, while imports grew from €32 billion to €100 billion in the same period. With extra-EU exports growing more than imports, the EU’s trade surplus in medicinal and pharmaceutical products reached €136 billion, the highest value since 2002 (€18 billion).
Among the EU Member States (ranked by total trade in million €), Germany was the largest exporter (€56 billion) in 2021, followed by Belgium (€46 billion) and Ireland (€38 billion). On the other hand, Belgium (€19 billion), Germany (€18 billion) and the Netherlands (€15 billion) were the largest importers of medicinal and pharmaceutical products.
USA and Switzerland remain main EU trade partners
The main destination of extra-EU exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products in 2021 was the United States, accounting for almost a third (32%) of these exports, followed at a distance by Switzerland (12%), the United Kingdom (7%) and China (6%).
Imports of these products to the EU came mainly from Switzerland (accounting for 36% of EU imports of these products) and the United States (30%), followed by China and the United Kingdom (both 8%).
Source dataset: ds-018995
With regard to trade between the EU and the United States, between 2002 and 2021, exports of medicinal and pharmaceutical products grew by almost 9% per year and imports grew by 5% per year. During this whole period, the trade balance has been in favour of the EU, registering a peak of €48 billion in 2020 and decreasing to €46 billion in 2021.
As for Switzerland, EU exports also grew by 9% per year, while imports grew by 8% per year, between 2002 and 2021. Over the same period, the EU had a trade deficit that peaked at €8 billion in 2009, 2012, 2019 and 2021.
For more information:
- Statistics Explained article on international trade in medicinal and pharmaceutical products
- Dedicated section on international trade in goods
- Database on international trade in goods
Methodological notes:
- The United Kingdom is considered as an extra-EU partner country for the EU for the whole period covered by this article. However, the United Kingdom was still part of the internal market until the end of the transitory period (31 December 2020), meaning that data on trade with the United Kingdom were still based on statistical concepts applicable to trade between the EU Member States. Consequently, while imports from any other extra-EU trade partner are grouped by country of origin, the United Kingdom data reflect the country of consignment. In practice this means that the goods imported by the EU from the United Kingdom were physically transported from the United Kingdom but part of these goods could have been of other origin than the United Kingdom. For this reason, data on trade with the United Kingdom are not fully comparable with data on trade with other extra-EU trade partners.
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