Key facts
- Sandoz's Kundl plant is Europe's only fully integrated penicillin producer.
- China now supplies 86% of Europe's penicillin API imports.
- Sandoz requested an EU anti-dumping investigation into Chinese antibiotic pricing.
- EU electricity prices for energy-intensive industries averaged nearly 50% above China in 2025.
The Sandoz penicillin plant in Kundl, Austria, Europe's last fully integrated producer, faces an uncertain future due to competition from cheaper Chinese antibiotics. China's share of EU imports for penicillin active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) has surged from 44% in 2019 to 86% last year, threatening the viability of the Austrian facility. Sandoz has requested the European Commission initiate an anti-dumping investigation into Chinese pricing, which it claims is below production cost and subsidized. The company argues that Europe's reliance on China for essential medicines poses a strategic risk, potentially enabling economic coercion. Concerns about pharmaceutical self-sufficiency have grown since the COVID-19 pandemic, with shortages of amoxicillin in Europe in 2022 highlighting the vulnerability. High energy costs in Europe further disadvantage local producers compared to their Chinese counterparts.