According to data released by the International Trade Administration of the US Department of Commerce, the US imported US$18.7 billion worth of medicaments in 2002, and US$6.5 billion worth of raw materials. This is over double the amount of imported pharmaceuticals in 1998, when US$7.5 billion worth of medicaments, and US$3.7 billion worth of raw materials were imported. By contrast, total US exports in 2002 reached US$8.8 billion in medicaments, and US$6.2 billion in raw materials. Here medicament exports have more than doubled over the last five years from US$4.362 billion in 1998, and raw materials have increased by about 40% from US$4.4 billion in the same period. Yet the increase in medicament exports is by far overshadowed by the volume and increase in medicament imports, hence a growing balance of trade deficit grows in the region of finished pharmaceuticals. Over the last five years, imports of raw materials have increased in value by over 75%, where exported raw materials have increased by approximately 40%. Export figures for antibiotics have remained fairly static, whereas import figures for antibiotics have consistently increased. Imports of hormones and steroids have increased more than four-fold since 1998, and exports have increased by over 80%. Exports of blood products almost doubled over the five year period, whereas imports increased almost three-fold by 2001, dropping slightly in 2002. Imports in raw material vitamins, rutosides/glycosides and glands, organs and extracts decreased between 1998-2002, where exports for vitamins and rutosides/glycosides increased. Table 1: US Imports of raw materials/medicaments 1998-2002 (US$000s) Source: International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce, 2003. Imports of non-retail medicaments more than doubled between 1998 and 2002, from US$313.0 million to US$684.5 million, where exports of the same increased by only 14%, from US$541.9 million to US$619.4 million, peaking in 2000. Imports of retail medicaments in 2002 were more than two and a half times that in 1998, showing the most dramatic increases between 1999 and 2002, whilst exports of same more than doubled in the same period, peaking in 2001. In both imports and exports, the largest increases were in the category ‘other retail medicaments’, hormones and alkaloids. Table 2: Exports of raw materials/medicaments, 1998-2002 (US$000s) Source: International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce, 2003. Figure 1 below demonstrates the growing disparity between imports and exports overall in pharmaceuticals. Figure 1: Imports, Exports and Balance of Trade in pharmaceuticals, 1998 - 2002 (US$000s) 
Source: International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce, 2003. Table 3 reveals that the balance of trade figure in raw materials is rather erratic, going into deficit in 2000 and again in 2002, whereas a fairly consistent increase in imports of non-retail medicaments has led to a deficit in this category, although exports increased slightly in 2002 reducing this deficit. The deficit in retail medicaments has increased almost three-fold between 1998 and 2002. In particular the US imports many retail hormones, but exports few, adding significantly to the balance of trade deficit. Table 3: Balance of Trade for raw materials/medicaments, 1998-2002 (US$000s) Source: International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce, 2003. Figure 2 below demonstrates that in 2002, blood products was the largest US raw material export category, and hormones the largest import category. Exports exceeded imports only in the areas of vitamins, rutosides/glycosides, antibiotics, glands/organs/extracts and blood products. Figure 2: Imports/exports of raw materials 2002 (US$000s) 
Source: International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce, 2003. Figure 3 below reveals that in 2002, slightly more retail medicaments were exported than raw materials, but where imports for raw materials were only modestly higher in value than exports, imported retail medicaments were over double the value of exported retail medicaments. Trade in non-retail medicaments is inconsequential by contrast, in terms of imports and exports. Figure 3: Import/Export data for raw materials and medicaments, 2002 (US$000s) 
Source: International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce, 2003. Ireland was the leading supplier overall, to the US, supplying a total US$5.36 billion, or 21.27% worth of pharmaceutical goods. Of these, the vast majority were retail medicaments, accounting for US$5.02 billion. The UK supplied a total of 14.11% of goods, followed by Germany supplying 11.95%, France supplying 8.52%, and Japan supplying 7.39%. In total, 12.43% of pharmaceuticals were supplied by countries not listed in Table 4. Germany was the largest single supplier of raw materials, at US$868.2 million, followed by the UK at US$744.8 million. The UK was by far the largest supplier of bulk (non-retail) medicaments, at US$348.2 million. The closest contenders were Israel, at US$79.4 million, and Japan, at US$73.7 million. Table 4: Leading suppliers of raw materials/medicaments 2002 (US$000s) Source: International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce, 2003. By contrast, Table 5 demonstrates that Canada was the leading destination for US pharmaceutical exports, with a total US$2.1 billion (13.90%), composed largely of retail medicaments (US$1.6 billion). The UK received US$1.8 billion in total (12.06%) again comprised largely retail medicaments (US$1.5 billion). Other leading destinations were France (total US$ ,10.63%), Belgium (total US$1.5 billion, 10.17%) and the Netherlands (total US$1.4 billion, 9.29%). By far, the leading recipient of raw materials from the US was France, with US$1.1 billion. Other leading destinations for raw materials were Belgium, with US$787.2 million, the Netherlands with US$716.0 million, and Japan with US$539.5 million. The largest single quota of bulk (non-retail) medicaments went to Switzerland, at US$119.5 million. The next recipient in this category was Ireland, at US$73.2 million. Table 5: Exports of raw materials/medicaments by destination 2002 (US$000s) Source: International Trade Administration, US Department of Commerce, 2003. |