EsThe U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, has implemented rules restricting the export of personal protective equipment for medical uses with FEMA approval now required for the next four months.
An early beneficiary of the policy – which is designed to retain products in the U.S. to tackle coronavirus – is 3M which has been allowed to export N95 masks to Canada, Associated Press reports. While the initial rules only cover face masks and gloves, FEMA is empowered to add other materials to the list via the Federal Register.
The move is understandable given the widening spread of medical protectionism being seen globally, as discussed in Panjiva’s research of April 1, which G20 commitments have failed to stem.
Panjiva’s data shows exports of the products covered so far – principally masks and gloves – were worth $606 million in 2019, but had increased by 10.3% year over year in January and by 19.6% in February. The largest recipients in 2019 were Canada and Mexico with 37.4% of the total followed by Europe with 24.9%. The most notable surge in shipments however was China, with a 245.7% year over year rise in exports in February.
Source: Panjiva
While the nature of U.S. seaborne export data can make discovering the sender of products difficult, Panjiva data indicates that shipments of masks and gloves linked to Avanos and Becton, Dickinson fell significantly in late 2019 and have been minimal in the first three months of 2019. Imports linked to Avanos fell 87.5% year over year in Q1 while those linked to Becton, Dickinson fell 42.9%.
Shipments linked to 3M meanwhile may have increased by 27.8% year over year in Q1, including the highest number of shipments in March – through March 26 – since September 2017.
Source: Panjiva
