Paracetamol: Movement

Why India exports two-thirds of the paracetamol it makes

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 292429

World exports $5.50 bn 79 reporting exporters · about 293k t Largest exporter China 33.4% of world exports Largest importer United States 15.7% of world imports India imports $207.9 m
exports $380.2 m #7 importer · #4 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 292429: 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 292429: largest exporters

Country	Share	Value (US$)	Tonnes
China	33.4%	$1.84 bn	160k
Switzerland	19%	$1.05 bn	66k
Norway	9.6%	$529.6 m	5,583
India	6.9%	$380.2 m	14k
Italy	6.3%	$345.7 m	3,385
United States	5.7%	$312.0 m	18k
Germany	4.5%	$246.9 m	3,309
Japan	4%	$219.5 m	8,015

HS 292429: largest importers

Country	Share	Value (US$)	Tonnes
United States	15.7%	$922.3 m	65k
Ireland	15.6%	$915.5 m	9,029
Germany	12.1%	$710.7 m	11k
China	8.3%	$487.5 m	7,583
Italy	4.5%	$263.1 m	2,684
Japan	3.7%	$213.8 m	5,483
India	3.6%	$207.9 m	30k
Brazil	3.3%	$194.4 m	19k

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	high: India exported about two-thirds of its output in 2020 (4,000 of 6,000 t/month)
How it moves	White crystalline powder in 25 kg fibre drums or bags, by container
Routes and chokepoints	India to Europe, US, Southeast Asia (Indonesia the largest importer in Pharmaoffer records, 10.5%), Latin America and Africa. HS 292429.
India	India held 49.4% of recorded paracetamol export transactions in the 12 months to June 2026 (Pharmaoffer). In 2020 India agreed to send about 1,000 t of paracetamol API to Europe (Business Today).
Handling in transit	Not dangerous goods for transport.