Significant Decline in API Exports to the U.S. in April | Stable Import and Export of Western Medicines from January to April This Year

Import and Export Subcategories of Western Medicines

From January to April 2025, China’s export value of Western medicines reached 18.515 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 4.0%; the import value was 16.127 billion USD, a decrease of 3.4% year-on-year. Among them, export value of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) was 14.813 billion USD, up 4.8% year-on-year; imports were 3.744 billion USD, up 19.4%. Exports of Western medicine preparations were 2.345 billion USD, up 1.8%; imports were 7.146 billion USD, up 1.4%. Exports of biochemical medicines totaled 1.357 billion USD, down 0.2%; imports were 5.237 billion USD, down 19.5% year-on-year.

Market Situation of Western Medicine Import and Export

From January to April 2025, Asia and Europe remained the main export regions for China’s Western medicine products. Asia accounted for the largest share with export value of 7.449 billion USD, growing 1.2%; Europe was second with 5.613 billion USD, up 4.0%. Exports to Oceania grew the fastest at 20.4%. Exports to North America, Latin America, and Africa maintained relatively rapid growth, with export values of 2.407 billion USD, 1.885 billion USD, and 0.850 billion USD respectively, up 8.4%, 6.7%, and 7.2% year-on-year.

China’s Western medicine export market concentration is moderate, with the top ten export countries and regions accounting for 53.2% of total Western medicine exports. From January to April 2025, India and the United States were the top two export markets, with export values of 2.297 billion USD and 2.177 billion USD respectively. The second tier export markets including the Netherlands, Brazil, Germany, South Korea, and Japan had a combined export value of 3.832 billion USD. The export values of the eighth to seventeenth ranked countries ranged between 300 million and 600 million USD.

On the import side, Europe was the main source region for China’s Western medicine products. From January to April 2025, China imported 11.303 billion USD from Europe, down 7.1% year-on-year; followed by North America and Asia with import values of 2.174 billion USD and 2.137 billion USD, growing 10.8% and 4.1% respectively.

The top ten importing countries and regions accounted for 78.7% of total imports, showing a more concentrated import source. Germany, Ireland, the United States, Switzerland, and Italy ranked as the top five import markets, accounting for 70.7% of imports from the top ten countries.

Import and Export of Western Medicines to the United States

From January to April 2025, China’s export value of Western medicines to the U.S. was 2.177 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 7.2%; imports were 2.034 billion USD, up 11.6%. Among these, API exports were 1.519 billion USD, up 6.7%; imports were 360 million USD, up 31.44%. Exports of Western medicine preparations were 430 million USD, up 28.6%; imports were 579 million USD, up 4.5%. Biochemical medicine exports were 228 million USD, down 16.4%; imports were 1.095 billion USD, up 10.1% year-on-year.

From January to April, exports of Western medicines to the U.S. maintained growth. Early in the year, enterprises “rushed to export,” with export volumes in January and February maintaining double-digit growth compared to the previous year. In early February, affected by the Chinese New Year, export volumes fell month-on-month compared to January. The 20% “Fentanyl tariff” imposed by former U.S. President Trump on China had a significant impact on low-margin APIs, while the impact on higher-margin Western medicine preparations and biochemical medicines was relatively controllable. Most APIs and medicines are on the “reciprocal tariff” exemption list, so the impact was limited. The expected 232 tariffs on Chinese medicines proposed by Trump have not been implemented yet. From January to April data, the monthly export volume growth of Western medicine preparations exceeded 85% year-on-year, indicating poor industry expectations for the 232 tariffs and advance exports to reduce future tariff impact.

Regarding API exports in March and April, March saw a slowdown in export volume growth, and April showed a year-on-year decline of over 35%, but export prices continued to rise. This reflects the low profit margin in the API industry and the significant impact of tariff increases on product exports. The overall API export volume declined, but prices of products with high U.S. market demand increased to offset tariff costs. For biochemical medicines, from January to April, heparin and its salts exports to the U.S. continued to decline, with export value of 16 million USD, down 59.6%, and export volume dropping over 40%. Immunological products had export values of 74 million USD, down 16.6%, with export volume decreasing by 1.6%. Although exports of human vaccines, antiserum, and other blood products also declined sharply, their share was low, thus the impact on biochemical medicines was limited. Other biochemical medicines, which accounted for the highest export proportion, had exports of 137 million USD, down 4.26%, with a limited decline in export value. The decline in heparin and its salts exports was the main reason for the drop in biochemical medicine exports to the U.S.