The industry is making an important contribution to ensuring that value added and jobs in Germany are safeguarded even during the Covid-19 pandemic. Even before the Covid-19 pandemic in 2019, pharmaceutical products accounted for 6% of Germany's most important exports. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the figure for the second quarter of 2020, which was particularly affected by the crisis, increased by 7% compared to the same quarter of the previous year. In the third quarter of 2020, the pharmaceutical industry's export activity was also slightly above the level of the previous year's quarter, while total exports from Germany were significantly lower. Similar effects can also be found in the other European BIG-5 countries analysed (France, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) A stable industry – before and during the crisis The industry's extraordinary crisis resilience was not only visible during the Covid-19 pandemic. Already during the global economic and financial crisis of 2009, the export values of pharmaceutical products remained extremely stable. In the following years, the German pharmaceutical industry experienced extraordinarily dynamic growth: Between 2008 and 2019, exports of pharmaceutical products increased by almost 90% to over 80 billion euros. In 2019, the industry was able to make a significant contribution to Germany's positive trade balance with an export surplus of about 25 billion euros. Thereby exports of pharmaceutical products have a significant stabilising effect on economic development in Germany. Leading role of the German pharmaceutical industry With a world export share of 15% in 2019, Germany was one of the world's leading exporters of pharmaceutical products. This means that the German pharmaceutical industry has a leading international role in terms of export volumes. Further information and the study, vfa website (in German) Do you have questions? 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