Healthcare Industry in H1 2024: United States by far the leading world market

Healthcare industry: best/worst international markets in H1-2024

World trade data for the first half of 2024, available in the ExportPlanning Quarterly World Trade Datamart, allow to document the largely driving role of the US market with reference to the Healthcare industry.

As documented in the table below, in the most recent quarter, world exports of Healthcare Products and Equipment¹ to the United States recorded a year-over-year increase of approximately 16 billion euros (equal to +34.5%), a clear strengthening compared to the already positive first quarter of the year (+3.8 billion euros).

World Exports of Healthcare Products and Equipment:
best/worst international markets in the first semester of 2024

Behind the US market, in the first half of the year, we note - albeit with overall much less significant increases - the trend growth of exports of Health Products and Equipment to Switzerland (+6.6 billion euros compared to the first half of 2023, with a marked acceleration in the most recent quarter: +4.8 billion euros year-over-year), Netherlands (+3.6 billion euros) and Mexico (+1.8 billion euros).
Also noteworthy are the growth in global sales of the Healthcare industry - with y-o-y increases exceeding one billion euros - on the markets of Slovenia, Singapore, Germany and Poland (the latter ones with significant acceleration in the most recent quarter).

On the other hand, in the list of Healthcare industry's world markets, in the first half of the year the largest overall year-over-year declines were recorded by exports from the world of Health Products and Equipment to Belgium (-4.2 billion euros compared to the first half of 2023), China (-3.9 billion euros compared to the first half of 2023) and Japan (-1078 million euros compared to the first half of 2023). It should also be noted that in the aforementioned markets the most recent quarter showed signs of improvement (not sufficient, however, to compensate for the strongly negative results of the first quarter).

US market of Healthcare industry: main driving States in H1-2024

The data updated to the first half of 2024 of US foreign trade, available at the American State level in the Quarterly Trade of American States Datamart, allow to document the most dynamic geographical areas within the US market, in terms of imports of the Healthcare industry.

The following table shows the US States that in the first half of 2024 recorded the greatest year-over-year increases: above all, Kentucky² stands out as the main State driving US imports of Health Products and Equipment (+4.7 billion euros compared to the corresponding half of 2023, equal to +38.6% trend).
Behind it, the imports from world of Health Products and Equipment of Pennsylvania³ and Indiana⁴ (respectively +3.2 and +2.5 billion euros compared to the first half of 2023; both accelerating in the most recent quarter).

US Imports of Healthcare Products and Equipment:
main driving States in the first semester of 2024

We also note the growth performance of imports from the world of Health Products and Equipment of North Carolina (+2 156 million euros compared to the first half of 2023, and in clear acceleration in the most recent quarter), Tennessee⁵ (+1 862 million euros, also improving in the most recent quarter) and New Jersey (+1 162 million euros).

The importance of imports of the Healthcare industry of Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Illinois and Tennessee is particularly concentrated in the pharmaceutical sector: as documented in the graph below, these markets have the highest values of imported from the world of Drugs and Medicaments in the last 4 quarters.

Conclusions

The data on international trade in the Health System show that in the first half of 2024 the US market made by far the largest contributions to the growth of global sales, with an increase of approximately 20 billion euros compared to the corresponding half of 2023. Furthermore, the details of the most recent quarter indicate a phase of significant acceleration (+34.5% trend, in euro values).

The analysis of the data on US imports of the Health System at the State level also allows us to identify some geographic areas (Kentucky, above all: the most dynamic US market in the first half of the year and the leading importer at US level in the last 4 quarters) in a phase of significant growth in the first half of 2024.

For exporters of the Healthcare industry, the possibility of monitoring "in real time" a market of significant importance strategic (by far the first in the world in terms of value of imports of Health Products and Equipment in 2023 [with 201 billion euros]⁶), at the level of State and country of origin, at a detail level of sector/business unit/product, can allow to better support and orient their marketing and commercial strategies.