The European Chemicals Agency (ECHA) has published its annual report on trade in chemicals that are banned or severely restricted in the EU. The data is based on notifications from EU member states in accordance with the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Regulation.
According to the data, benzene-containing substances accounted for around 51% of total exports (1.1 million tons) and 99% of total imports (30 million tons) of PIC chemicals in 2024. In comparison, exports of these substances in 2023 were still 64 million tons and imports 65 million tons. The decline in benzene-containing substances led to an overall decrease of 97% in exports and 53% in imports of PIC chemicals.
Slight increase without benzene-containing substances
If substances containing benzene are excluded from the analysis, there is a moderate increase in trade with other hazardous chemicals. Exports of these PIC substances increased by 7% from around 1.03 million tons in 2023 to around 1.1 million tons in 2024. Imports increased by 2% from around 378,000 to 387,000 tons in the same period.
As in previous years, the most frequently traded chemicals included substances containing benzene, benzene itself and ethylene dichloride (1,2-dichloroethane), both in terms of exports and imports.
Increase in pesticide exports
A separate look is taken at pesticides: After two years of decline, exports here rose by 34% from around 173,000 to 232,000 tons in 2024. Chlorate was the main reason for this increase, accounting for around a quarter of the total increase.
Notifications from the companies
For the reporting year 2024, 553 companies from 24 EU Member States submitted data on exports of PIC chemicals to ECHA. Three EU countries - Cyprus, Luxembourg and Malta - and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland) did not report any exports. Regarding imports, 226 companies from 23 EU countries submitted data. No imports were reported by Cyprus, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta and the United Kingdom (Northern Ireland).
According to Article 10 of the PIC Regulation, companies are obliged to report their trade data to the competent national authorities by March 31 each year. The aggregated and non-confidential data is then published by ECHA at EU level.