Top Vaccines Exports by Country

Below are the 15 countries that exported the highest dollar value worth of vaccines during 2020.

1. Belgium: US$11.8 billion (38.4% of exported vaccines)
2. Ireland: $5.1 billion (16.6%)
3. France: $4.4 billion (14.3%)
4. United States: $1.771 billion (5.8%)
5. Italy: $1.767 billion (5.7%)
6. United Kingdom: $981.6 million (3.2%)
7. India: $744.9 million (2.4%)
8. Poland: $705.9 million (2.3%)
9. Netherlands: $620.7 million (2%)
10. Germany: $565.3 million (1.8%)
11. Canada: $410.5 million (1.3%)
12. Austria: $339 million (1.1%)
13. Spain: $315.3 million (1%)
14. China: $281.2 million (0.9%)
15. South Korea: $172.6 million (0.6%)

By value, the listed 15 countries shipped 97.4% of globally exported vaccines in 2020.

Among the top exporters, the fastest-growing exporters of vaccines since 2016 were: Poland (up 411.3%), China (up 339.8%), Austria (up 122.8%) and Italy (up 117.9%).

Four top suppliers that posted declines in their international sales of vaccines were: United Kingdom (down -68.1%), Canada (down -16.6%), South Korea (down -16.2%) and the United States of America (down -3%).

The following countries posted the highest positive net exports for human vaccines during 2020. 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.

1. Ireland: US$4.7 billion (net export surplus up 55% since 2016)
2. France: $3.7 billion (up 62.2%)
3. Belgium: $3.6 billion (up 85.4%)
4. Italy: $1 billion (up 148.4%)
5. Netherlands: $509.5 million (up 151.5%)
6. India: $405.4 million (down -2.5%)
7. Austria: $175.1 million (up 122.3%)
8. Bulgaria: $12.1 million (reversing a -$3.9 million deficit)
9. Faroe Islands: $61,000 (reversing a -$222,000 deficit)

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.

The following countries posted the highest negative net exports for human vaccines during 2020. 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.

1. United States: -US$5.7 billion (net export deficit up 154.5% since 2016)
2. China: -$2.1 billion (up 1127.1%)
3. Nigeria: -$1.3 billion (up 17044.1%)
4. Germany: -$912 million (up 108.3%)
5. Brazil: -$747.1 million (up 7.7%)
6. Japan: -$476.8 million (down -9.2%)
7. Vietnam: -$417.5 million (up 226.8%)
8. Spain: -$383.7 million (up 100.4%)
9. Turkey: -$268.2 million (up 71.9%)
10. Argentina: -$253.8 million (up 144.4%)
11. United Kingdom: -$234.6 million (reversing a $929.5 million surplus)
12. Pakistan: -$225.1 million (up 6.3%)
13. Saudi Arabia: -$211.4 million (up 11%)
14. Australia: -$209.2 million (up 40.5%)
15. Israel: -$203.1 million (up 236.7%)

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.

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, and mirrors rankings from the technavio Blog.