U.S. Exports To Top $30 Billion For First Time In 2022

U.S. exports of pills and other medicines in dosage form will top $30 billion this year for the first time, boosted by a growth rate almost 50% greater than the national average for all U.S. exports.

The category encompasses a wide range of medications but the leaders are immunosuppressive medicines; antivirals; cardiovascular medicines; medicines for the eyes, ear and respiratory systems; hormones; analgesics; antibiotics; and antidepressants.

The total through September, the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau, was $26.46 billion, an increase of 31.61%, well above the still-impressive increase of all U.S. exports at 21.12%.

This post, focused on the medicines in dosage form, generally for retail sale, ranked ninth when this series began, is the 11th in a series of columns about the nation’s exports. It currently ranks 10th.

It follows similar series I did for the countries that were, at the time, the nation’s top 10 trade partners and one for the airports, seaports and border crossings that were, at the time, the nation’s top 10 “ports.”

The first article in this series focused on an overview of the top 10 exports. The second looked at the top 10 countries that are markets for U.S. exports and how they differ from our overall trade partners, which would include imports.

The third was about refined petroleum, the top export; followed by one on oil, which ranks second; natural gas, which includes LNG and ranks third; the primary commercial jet category, which ranks fourth; passenger vehicles, at No. 5; computer chips, which actually rank seventh, though at the time this series started, ranked sixth; vaccines, plasma and other blood fractions, which ranked seventh when the series started; and motor vehicle parts, the No. 8-ranked U.S. export.

(In addition, I intentionally excluded the “low-value” category — largely e-commerce and other courier shipments, which ranks fifth — because there is little available and meaningful Census data released and it would involve a variety of commodities.)

The 12th articles will look at medical instruments, 10th at the time this series started. The export that entered the ranking after the series started was gold, which currently ranks as the nation’s ninth most valuable export.

Six of the top 10 gateways for these exports are airports, with Chicago’s O’Hare, San Juan International Airport and Miami International Airport ranking first, second and third, respectively, and accounting for 56% of the total. New York’s JFK International, Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson and Los Angeles International round out the airports among the top 10 gateways.

There are two seaports, Port of Savannah and Port of San Juan, ranked among the top 10 as well as two border crossings, both into Canada — Buffalo’s Peace Bridge and Detroit’s Ambassador Bridge.

The largest markets for these medicines tend to be, not surprisingly, European, Asian and North American nations. Three of the top four markets and five of the top 10 are in Europe: No. 1 United Kingdom (13%), No. 3 Netherlands (11%) No. 4 Spain (11%), No. 7 Germany (5.1%) and No. 8 Belgium (3.8%).

Japan leads the Asian partners, ranking second overall at 12% of the total through September, the latest data available from the U.S. Census Bureau. China is sixth and South Korea ninth, with 7.9% and 2.6% of the total, respectively.

Canada ranks fifth at 9.3% of the total. The only nation outside of Europe, Asia and North America is Brazil, which ranks 10th, with 2.3% of all U.S. exports of medicines in individual doses.