【Aging, safety net and fiscal crisis in Japan】No.301: Due to COVID-19 vaccine imports, the medical trade deficit is expected to exceed JPY 4 trillion in 2021.

As Table 1 shows, Japan's trade deficit for medical products almost doubled from JPY 1,485 billion (US$ 13,500 million) in 2010 to JPY 2,801 billion (US $ 25,460 million) in 2018. It jumped another 29% to JPY 3,615 billion (US$ 32,860 million) in 2019.

Looking at the 2019 trade statistics for medical devices, while exports increased by 51% from JPY 668 billion (US$ 6,070 million) in 2018 to JPY 1,009 billion (US$ 9,170 million), imports increased by 68% from JPY 1,620 billion (US$ 14,730 million) to JPY 2,723 billion (US$ 24,750 million). Because the medical device trade statistics item classification was revised in 2019, it is difficult to identify the medical devices that caused the increase in imports. However, as shown in Table 2, since the import value increased in all the countries from which medical devices were imported, it is inferred that the imports of many items of medical devices increased.

The trade balance of pharmaceuticals did not change significantly between 2018 and 2019, while imports from Germany and the United States continued to increase (Table 3). However, the trade deficit in 2021 is expected to increase significantly owing to imports of the COVID-19 vaccine. The budget allocated by the government for vaccine imports is JPY 671 billion. Therefore, the trade deficit for medical products is expected to exceed JPY 4 trillion (US$ 36,360 million) in 2021.

Table 1. Medical devices/pharmaceuticals trade balance in Japan (billion yen).

Sources: Ministry of Finance, Trade Statistics; Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Pharmaceutical Industry Production Statistics; Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Science and Technology Research Survey; and Japan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (JPMA), Data Book 2021.

Table 2. Major source countries for Japanese medical device imports (billion yen).

Note: The totals do not always match because of rounding.

Source: Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, Pharmaceutical Industry Production Statistics

Table 3. Major source countries for Japanese pharmaceutical imports (billion yen).

Note: The totals do not always match because of rounding.

Source: JPMA, Data Book 2021.