As the massive cohort of baby boomers continues to age, the number of surgeries for artificial knee, hip, ankle and other joint replacement continues to accelerate at a steady pace.
Among continents, exporters in Europe sold the highest dollar worth of exported artificial joints during 2019 with shipments valued at $9.6 billion or roughly four-fifths (79.3%) of overall exports for these highly specialized limb-related replacements. In second place were North American exporters at 15.8% while 4.6% of worldwide artificial joints shipments originated from Asia. Smaller percentages came from Oceania (0.1%) led by Australia, Latin America (also 0.1%) excluding Mexico but including the Caribbean, and Africa (0.03%).
For research purposes, artificial joints for orthopedic purposes are classified under 902131, a 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix.
Top Artificial Joints Exporters by Country
Countries
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of artificial joints during 2019.
- Netherlands: US$2.4 billion (19.8% of exported artificial joints)
- United States: $1.9 billion (15.7%)
- Ireland: $1.7 billion (14%)
- Belgium: $1.3 billion (10.6%)
- Switzerland: $1.1 billion (9.3%)
- Germany: $1 billion (8.5%)
- France: $774 million (6.4%)
- United Kingdom: $761.4 million (6.3%)
- Italy: $286.1 million (2.4%)
- Singapore: $233.5 million (1.9%)
- China: $216.5 million (1.8%)
- Iceland: $57.6 million (0.5%)
- Sweden: $48.5 million (0.4%)
- Austria: $42.5 million (0.4%)
- Taiwan: $33.5 million (0.3%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 98.1% of globally exported artificial joints in 2019.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of artificial joints since 2015 were: Singapore (up 394.8%), Netherlands (up 297.3%), China (up 152.9%) and United Kingdom (up 139.2%).
Three top suppliers posted declines in their international sales of artificial joints: Germany (down -21.3%), Belgium (down -8.3%) and Sweden (down -4.2%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for artificial joints during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the surplus between the value of each country’s exported artificial joints and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Ireland: US$1.5 billion (net export surplus up 77% since 2015)
- Netherlands: $1.3 billion (up 610.8%)
- Belgium: $584.7 million (down -32%)
- Switzerland: $581.6 million (up 26.2%)
- Germany: $309.9 million (down -38.4%)
- United Kingdom: $215.8 million (reversing a -$129.2 million deficit)
- Singapore: $63.9 million (up 798.5%)
- France: $58.8 million (reversing a -$6.1 million deficit)
- Iceland: $54.7 million (up 89.2%)
- Lithuania: $3 million (up 416.6%)
- Taiwan: $2.3 million (up 300.2%)
- Georgia: $1.3 million (reversing a -$1.8 million deficit)
- Kyrgyzstan: $501,000 (reversing a -$19,000 deficit)
- Costa Rica: $86,000 (reversing a -$575,000 deficit)
- Cocos (Keeling) Is: $3,000 (no 2015 data)
Overtaking the Netherlands in 2019, Ireland generated the highest surplus in the international trade of artificial joints. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Ireland’s strong competitive advantages for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for artificial joints during 2019. Investopedia defines net exports as the value of a country’s total exports minus the value of its total imports. Thus, the statistics below present the deficit between the value of each country’s imported artificial joints purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$1 billion (net export deficit up 922.7% since 2015)
- Japan: -$454.2 million (up 19.9%)
- China: -$344.1 million (up 42%)
- Australia: -$275.1 million (down -8.8%)
- Spain: -$189.9 million (up 26.1%)
- Canada: -$164.8 million (down -2.2%)
- Italy: -$138.2 million (down -7.7%)
- India: -$109.1 million (up 19.1%)
- South Korea: -$94.1 million (up 9.4%)
- Russia: -$93.5 million (up 74.1%)
- Poland: -$76.4 million (up 73.1%)
- Austria: -$61.9 million (up 3.9%)
- Brazil: -$59 million (up 40.6%)
- Iran: -$49.9 million (up 18%)
- Finland: -$48.8 million (up 64.8%)
The United States incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of artificial joints. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights America’s strong competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for artificial joints-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful consumer demand.
Companies
Artificial Joints Exporting Companies
Below are artificial joints-manufacturing conglomerates headquartered in the United States. They are presented in order of greatest market capitalization, according to Morningstar’s analysis of industry peers.
- Stryker Corp
- Abbott Laboratories
- Boston Scientific
- Intuitive Surgical Inc
- Zimmer Biomet Holdings Inc
- Edwards Lifesciences Corp
- St Jude Medical Inc
- Smith & Nephew PLC
- Varian Medical Systems Inc
- Sonova Holding AG
According to global trading platform Alibaba, the following are examples of exporters that supply artificial joints. The home-country location for each business is shown within parentheses.
- Shijiazhuang City Huirong Stainless Steel Products (China)
- Daiya Industry Co Ltd (Japan)
- Standard Steel (India)
- Medimsa Medical Production Industry (Turkey)
- DOO Ortopedija Nis (Serbia)
- Biomecanica Orthopedic Industry Ltd (Brazil)
See also Top Industrial Robots Exporters, Electronic Circuit Component Exports by Country and Heart Pacemaker Export Sales by Country.
Research Sources:
Alibaba, Supplier showroom for artificial joints. Accessed on June 6, 2020
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on June 6, 2020
Forbes Global 2000 rankings, The World’s Biggest Public Companies. Accessed on June 6, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 6, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 6, 2020
Morningstar, Industry Peers for Stryker Corp. Accessed on June 6, 2020
