pharmaceutical · input
Active pharmaceutical ingredient for Advil/Motrin and generic ibuprofen. IOL Chemicals (India) claims 35% global share; China accounts for 90-95% of US/EU ibuprofen imports. SI Group (last major non-IOL Western producer) exited the market September 2024.
4
Source countries
4
Companies
1
Goods affected
0
Claims on record
What depends on it
1 essential American goods rely on ibuprofen api somewhere upstream in their supply chain.
Where it comes from
Share of global supply, by country.
| Country | Share of supply |
|---|---|
| CNChina | 55% |
| INIndia | 35% |
| DEGermany | 3% |
| USUnited States | 0% |
Who makes it
4 companies produce ibuprofen api.
World's largest single ibuprofen API manufacturer; claims 35% global market share; 12,000 tonnes/year capacity; the only company globally backward-integrated into isobutylbenzene (IBB), the key ibuprofen precursor. Received China NMPA approval April 2025 to export to China.
Chinese specialty pharmaceutical chemical company (HQ Jingmen, Hubei; listed on Shanghai Stock Exchange); one of China's largest ibuprofen API producers, producing both ibuprofen and related NSAIDs (naproxen, ketoprofen) for domestic and export markets. Hubei Biocause's ibuprofen production contributes to China's dominant position in global ibuprofen API supply — which accounts for 90-95% of US/EU ibuprofen imports by volume. China's ibuprofen cost advantage stems from integrated petrochemical-pharmaceutical supply chains (isobutylbenzene, the key ibuprofen raw material, is a petroleum derivative produced cheaply in Chinese integrated chemical complexes).
World's largest chemical company by revenue; dominant Western producer of food-grade sodium nitrite. BASF expanded sodium nitrite production capacity in Germany specifically to meet growing demand for high-purity pharmaceutical and food applications. Primary production at Ludwigshafen (world's largest contiguous chemical complex). Also produces sodium nitrite catalysts, sulfuric acid, and intermediates for pharmaceutical synthesis. BASF sells food-grade sodium nitrite to meat processors globally through distribution networks and third-party channels.
American specialty chemicals company (HQ Schenectady NY; private equity owned, formerly Schenectady International); was the last significant non-Asian, non-IOL Chemicals ibuprofen API producer outside China — until announcing its exit from the ibuprofen API market in September 2024. SI Group's exit eliminated the last meaningful Western ibuprofen API production capability, leaving IOL Chemicals (India) as the only significant non-Chinese global ibuprofen producer. SI Group cited Chinese competitive pricing as the primary reason for exit — the same competitive dynamic that eliminated US and European APAP (acetaminophen) API production had finally consumed the last Western ibuprofen API producer. SI Group's exit in September 2024 is included in this record as a historical marker of the Western pharmaceutical API manufacturing withdrawal from ibuprofen.
