The Growth of the Packaging User Sectors: focus on the Pharmaceutical Industry

Continuing the in-depth articles about "Packaging Industry: the long-term Growth of end-user Sectors", one of the main sectors using packaging that is showing a particular growth is that of Pharmaceuticals¹.

The high dynamism of the world trade
in Pharmaceuticals products...

According to StudiaBo pre-estimates², at the end of the year world trade in Pharmaceuticals³ is expected to reach a new record value (656 billion dollars), about 50 percent higher than at the beginning of the decade if measured in dollars (more than 70 percent if measured in euros). Compared to the value of the early century, world trade in the sector has reached an almost 8 times higher amount (in 2000, the value of world trade in the sector was 74.5 billion dollars).
Within the sector, the last decade has seen particularly dynamic growth - with double-digit annual average growth rates - in world trade of Biotechnology Drugs, for which reference should be made to the relevant in-depth report⁴.

...especially on Premium segments.

The sum of the world trade flows of the High and Medium-High Price ranges in the Pharmaceuticals sector has experienced particularly rapid growth in recent years, reaching around 460 billion dollars (70.1% of total flows) in 2019, nearly 150 billion dollars higher than the values of the beginning of the decade.
The importance of the "Premium-Price" segments reaches particularly high shares in the field of Biotechnological Drugs, with over 85 per cent of world trade represented by the highest price ranges (and almost 70 per cent attributable only to the High Price range)⁴.

Premium Markets:
United States by far the largest importer

The ranking of the most important markets in terms of imports of High-Price Pharmaceuticals sees the US market as the main Premium destination, with an estimated final 2019 share of more than 23 per cent of global sector demand in the high-price segment (for an equivalent value of more than 57 billion dollars).
The German and Swiss markets are also worth mentioning, with shares of 9.7% and 6.5% of world demand for high-end pharmaceuticals, respectively.
Last but not least, the importance of the Chinese market is highlighted, which - with nearly 21 billion USD of imports in the High Price range estimated in 2019 - ranks fourth overall in the world's "premium" destinations for products in the sector.

Premium-Price Competitors: Switzerland, Germany, Ireland and the USA compete for leadership

The ranking of the most important competitors in terms of exports of high-end pharmaceuticals highlights the leadership of Switzerland (more than 55 billion dollars exported in 2019 in premium pharmaceuticals, equal to about 17% of the segment), which precedes - in order - Germany (45.2 billion dollars estimated at the end of the year), Ireland (41.6 billion dollars) and the United States (39.6 billion dollars).

Sector Forecasts 2020-2023

In the 2020-2023 scenario, the forecasts formulated by StudiaBo on the basis of the International Monetary Fund "World Economic Outlook"⁶ indicate the continuation of a particularly rapid growth rate of world trade in the pharmaceutical sector.
In particular, the value of world trade in the sector is expected to exceed the threshold of 800 billion dollars, with an average annual growth rate (CAGR, Compound Annual Growth Rate) of +8.2% in USD terms.

1) For more information, please refer to the Ulisse Datamart in the Analytics section of ExportPlanning.
2) See the products' list analyzed in the following sector's description.
3) For further information on the dynamics of world trade in the sector, reference should also be made to the following report: "Drugs and Medicaments: World Trade, Markets and Competitors".
4) See on this subject the following market research report: "Biotechnological Drugs: World Trade, Markets and Competitors".
5) For more information, please refer to the Forecast Datamart in the Analytics section of ExportPlanning.