
Among continents, suppliers located in European countries sold the highest dollar worth of exported human vaccines during 2019 with shipments valued at $27.7 billion or 87.5% of the global total. In second place were North American exporters at 7.8% while 4.3% of worldwide shipments of human vaccines originated from Asia. Smaller percentages came from Oceania’s (0.3%) Australia and New Zealand, Latin America (0.1%), and Africa (0.02%).
For research purposes, the 6-digit Harmonized Tariff System code prefix for human vaccines is 300220.
Top Human Vaccines Exports by Country
Top 15
Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of human vaccines during 2019.
- Belgium: US$9.5 billion (30.2% of exported human vaccines)
- Ireland: $5.3 billion (16.8%)
- France: $4.3 billion (13.5%)
- United Kingdom: $3.4 billion (10.8%)
- United States: $2 billion (6.4%)
- Netherlands: $1.9 billion (6.1%)
- Italy: $1.1 billion (3.5%)
- India: $754.8 million (2.4%)
- Poland: $591.9 million (1.9%)
- Germany: $503.1 million (1.6%)
- Canada: $447.6 million (1.4%)
- Austria: $322.3 million (1%)
- Spain: $282.6 million (0.9%)
- South Korea: $142.6 million (0.5%)
- China: $112.7 million (0.4%)
By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 97.3% of globally exported human vaccines in 2019.
Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of human vaccines since 2015 were: Poland (up 644.9%), China (up 139%), Spain (up 114.7%) and Italy (up 86%).
Five countries posted declines in their international sales of human vaccines: United States (down -30.8%), South Korea (down -28.4%), United Kingdom (down -22.2%), Canada (down -15.8%) and Germany (down -9.1%).
Advantages
The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for human vaccines 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 human vaccines and its import purchases for that same commodity.
- Ireland: US$4.5 billion (net export surplus up 37.4% since 2015)
- France: $3.5 billion (up 64.3%)
- Belgium: $1.7 billion (up 109.8%)
- United Kingdom: $1.3 billion (down -41.4%)
- Netherlands: $881.2 million (up 223.1%)
- Italy: $544.2 million (up 165.8%)
- India: $384.7 million (up 17.1%)
- Austria: $205.7 million (up 58.9%)
- Hungary: $10.1 million (reversing a -$10.3 million deficit)
- North Korea: $4.1 million (reversing a -$1.6 million deficit)
- Bulgaria: $1.6 million (up 104.5%)
- Indonesia: $937,000 (down -98.8%)
The Republic of Ireland has the highest surplus in the international trade of human vaccines. In turn, this positive cashflow confirms Ireland’s strong competitive advantage for this specific product category.
Opportunities
The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for human vaccines 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 human vaccines purchases and its exports for that same commodity.
- United States: -US$5.3 billion (net export deficit up 106.4% since 2015)
- China: -$1.4 billion (up 716.9%)
- Brazil: -$718.1 million (up 18.7%)
- Germany: -$690.5 million (up 114.2%)
- Nigeria: -$501.6 million (up 8,997%)
- Japan: -$304.2 million (down -14.8%)
- Turkey: -$296.9 million (up 22.9%)
- Saudi Arabia: -$278 million (up 23.7%)
- Spain: -$239.7 million (up 141%)
- Philippines: -$200.8 million (up 100.4%)
- Pakistan: -$200.3 million (down -11.2%)
- Australia: -$193.6 million (up 15.6%)
- Vietnam: -$192 million (up 98.2%)
- Canada: -$189.4 million (reversing a $152.5 million surplus)
- South Africa: -$187.3 million (up 33.6%)
The United States of America incurred the highest deficit in the international trade of human vaccines. In turn, this negative cashflow highlights America’s competitive disadvantage for this specific product category but also signals opportunities for human vaccines-supplying countries that help satisfy the powerful consumer demand.
Companies
Human Vaccines Exporting Companies
Below are global human vaccines-processing conglomerates that represent the largest established players engaged in the international trade of human vaccines. Their city and home country for each corporation’s headquarters is shown within parenthesis.
- GlaxoSmithKline (London, UK)
- Merck & Co (Kenilworth, USA)
- Sanofi (Paris, France)
- Pfizer (New York, USA)
- Novavax (Rockville, USA)
- Emergent BioSolutions (Rockville, USA)
- CSL (Melbourne, Australia)
- Inovio Pharmaceuticals (Plymouth Meeting, USA)
- Bavarian Nordic (Kvistgaard, Denmark)
- Mitsubishi Tanabe (Tokyo, Japan)
The above list is ordered based on company size, according to rankings from the technavio Blog.
See also Heart Pacemaker Export Sales by Country, Drugs and Medicine Exports by Country and Top Blood Exporters by Country
Research Sources:
Central Intelligence Agency, The World Factbook Field Listing: Exports – Commodities. Accessed on June 7, 2020
International Trade Centre, Trade Map. Accessed on June 7, 2020
Investopedia, Net Exports Definition. Accessed on June 7, 2020
Technavio Blog, Top 10 Vaccine Manufacturers in the World 2019. Accessed on June 7, 2020
Wikipedia, Vaccine. Accessed on June 7, 2020