Pharmaceutical excipients: Movement

Why India is the world's top importer of cellulose ethers

Why India is the world's top importer of cellulose ethers What this tab covers How it moves between countries: share of output traded, physical form and transport, the largest exporters and importers, main routes, India's trade, and handling rules in transit.

Trade in 2024 UN Comtrade, HS 391239

World exports $3.00 bn 100 reporting exporters · about 498k t Largest exporter Germany 25.8% of world exports Largest importer India 13.9% of world imports India imports $396.2 m
exports $16.9 m #1 importer · #10 exporter

Where it is exported from and imported to, 2024

Chart: World map of the largest trade flows

Exporter (size = share of world exports) Importer (share of world imports) Shipping chokepoint UN Comtrade 2024, HS 391239: shares of reported world exports and imports by value. Country-to-country route lines are not available for this commodity yet. Hover a circle for values.

HS 391239: largest exporters

Country	Share	Value (US$)	Tonnes
Germany	25.8%	$773.9 m	115k
China	17%	$510.1 m	180k
United States	16.6%	$500.0 m	35k
South Korea	12.7%	$380.3 m	69k
Japan	7.3%	$218.7 m	14k
Belgium	7.2%	$216.5 m	26k
Netherlands	4.2%	$125.0 m	19k
Sweden	3.8%	$115.5 m	24k

HS 391239: largest importers

Country	Share	Value (US$)	Tonnes
India	13.9%	$396.2 m	59k
United States	8.7%	$248.6 m	33k
China	5.7%	$163.8 m	16k
Türkiye	4.7%	$135.4 m	29k
Germany	4.5%	$127.4 m	12k
Italy	3.8%	$108.2 m	15k
Brazil	3.7%	$106.4 m	20k
France	3.7%	$105.6 m	13k

UN Comtrade 2024, reported by each country (exports by exporters, imports by importers), all partners. Some countries (for example Russia and Iran) do not report, so their shares are missing. HS codes can be broader than the tile: check the code before reading a share as the whole market.

How it moves

Measure	Figure
Share traded	not published
How it moves	Powders in bags and drums by container
Routes and chokepoints	Europe and US to Asia; Asian MCC to the world. HS 391239 (cellulose ethers) and other codes.
India	not published here; trade data. HS 391239: India imported $396 million (13.9% of world imports, rank 1) and exported $17 million (0.6% of world exports, rank 10) (UN Comtrade 2024).
Handling in transit	Not dangerous goods; combustible dust.