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Global Health Econ Sustain Imports of essential medical products

to being crucial for facilitating the exchange of products (i) Is the import of various types of essential medical
and making it possible to save lives. According to statistics products needed to combat the pandemic determined
provided by Eurostat, European imports of medical by the same factors?
products between January and October 2020 were 14.86% (ii) Are extra-EU suppliers at a disadvantage compared to
higher than in the same period in 2019, while exports have intra-EU suppliers?
experienced an even greater impact, being 47.92% higher. (iii) Has there been a significant change in 2020 compared
In an attempt to adapt to this new scenario, the to previous years in imports of medical products
authorities of various nations have been forced to take classified as essential?
measures involving the removal of certain import (iv) Is the import of medical products price-sensitive?
restrictions. Notable examples include the elimination of Trade statistics provided by Eurostat, classified as extra- and
import licensing requirements, the reduction of tariffs, intra-EU imports, were analyzed in this study. Pooled ordinary
and the suspension of anti-dumping duties on medical least squares (OLS), fixed effects (FE), or random effects (RE)
supplies. However, the response has not consisted entirely estimation of the panel data were carried out, depending on
of liberalizing measures; at the same time, temporary the results of the corresponding validity test.
restrictions have been imposed on the export of these The impact of COVID-19 on trade flows of goods and
products to guarantee the adequacy of domestic supply services has been analyzed in the literature (Shaker, 2020;
(OECD, 2020b; Baldwin & Evenett, 2020; Evenett & Anghelache et al., 2020). Specifically, Minondo (2020)
Winters, 2020; Evenett, 2021). More specifically, in Europe, compared the drop in exports during the COVID-19 crisis
the European Commission imposed restrictions in March with the Great Recession of 2008 – 2009, concluding that
2020 on the export of medical products, not only because Spain is the country in Europe that has registered the biggest
of existing shortages but also due to the anticipated drop in trade. Other authors have focused on estimating
increase in demand for an indefinite period (Regulation the determinants of total trade in medical products without
2020/402). However, according to Leibovici & Santacreu exploring the differences among them (Fabus, 2020;
(2020), this situation has not given rise to a common Makrevska et al., 2020; Jindřichovská & Uğurlu, 2021).
line of action at a global level; indeed, there has been a Accordingly, the results of the proposed empirical analysis
markedly heterogeneous response, with countries’ trade help shed light on novel aspects that could guide future trade
policies being strongly dependent on their trade balances policies in a number of ways: (i) the separate analysis of trade
in medical goods. At the outbreak of the pandemic, 86% of determinants by type of product broadens the spectrum of
the countries with a trade surplus in these goods imposed potential action, by providing detailed information on the
restrictive export policies, whereas only 46% of countries specific characteristics of each one; (ii) the analysis of the
with a trade deficit did so.
period of time enables an assessment of the impact of the
Apart from the needs created by the pandemic, pandemic, which helps identify and explain which products
international demand for medical supplies and products are most affected; and (iii) the composition of the sample used
has grown exponentially in recent decades. The trigger in the empirical analysis depicts the individual patterns of each
has been the aging of the population in middle- and high- country, providing the EU trade policy-makers with ex-ante
income countries, which, together with the substantial information for the adoption of possible tariff measures.
increase in health-care expenditure in the developing This study primarily analyzed the European imports of
world and very low tariffs, has led to an abundant supply of products classified as essential for combatting COVID-19
low-price, high-quality products (Gereffi, 2020).
by the World Customs Organization and the World Health
The aim of this research was to analyze the determinants Organization (WHO). These products are grouped into
of the imports of each of the essential medical products seven categories:
by the 27 countries of the European Union (EU-27), for (i) Test kits and diagnostic instruments (e.g., COVID-19
the period of 2015 – 2020 (in the first 10 months of each test kits);
year1), such that the previous year reflects the effect of
COVID-19 on international purchases. This study sought (ii) Disinfectants and sterilization products (e.g., medical
to answer the following questions: strength alcohol, sanitizers, sterilizing equipment,
chemical disinfectants, and medical grade chemicals);
(iii) Oxygen therapy equipment (e.g., ventilators and
1 This limitation is due to the fact that, at the time of artificial respiration apparatus);
conducting the research, information for 2020 was only (iv) Medical devices and equipment (e.g., thermometers,
available from January to October. The same restriction
has been imposed on the rest of the years to ensure the stethoscopes, electrocardiographs, and ultrasound
comparability of the annual data. machines);

Volume 1 Issue 2 (2023) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.1207