Optical instruments market in Europe: size, suppliers and public contracts
Market size and key facts
In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 1,487 supply contracts for optical instruments through award notices on TED; the 1,140 of them that state a value (76.7%) add up to €2.31 billion. EU countries together imported €8.68 billion of goods in the customs headings matched to optical instruments in 2025 (Eurostat Comext, HS 9002, 9013, 9006, 9005, 9007 and 2 more headings; sum of national imports, trade between EU countries included; all buyers, not only public ones), down 0.4% from 2023.
- Since November 2023, 1,953 companies have won 4,590 public supply contracts for optical instruments in 30 European countries, in 2,720 award notices from 1,146 public buyers.
- 9.5% of these awards went to a company registered in a different country from the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Germany.
- The five companies that win most often hold 7.3% of all awards across Europe.
- 39.6% of the awards whose notice states the number of tenders received a single bid.
In proportion
All public purchasing in the EU-27 — general government spending on goods, services and investment, the measure the OECD and the European Commission use for public procurement — came to €2.93 trillion in 2025, 15.5% of GDP (Eurostat). Award notices on TED cover only the contracts above the EU thresholds, so they show who wins, not the whole of that spending.
Source: Eurostat, government finance statistics (gov_10a_main, gov_10a_exp) and GDP (nama_10_gdp), retrieved 9 November 2026.
Updated · counted daily from contract award notices on TED and Eurostat international trade data · figures as JSON · free to quote with attribution (CC BY 4.0)
How to cite: Cresques, "Optical instruments market in Europe", https://cresques.com/markets/europe/386-optical-instruments, from TED contract award notices (© European Union) and Eurostat Comext, updated 13 November 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.
CPV group 386 across the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein: how much public buyers award, who wins, where from, and how the market splits by country.
The market in numbers
Public supply contracts in Europe: award notices published on TED from 2023-11 to 2026-11, by publication year.
- Contracts awarded
- 4.6K
- in 2.7K award notices
- Awarded value
- €3.2B
- from 75% of awards with a published value
- Winning companies
- 2K
- with at least one award
- Public buyers
- 1.1K
- hospitals, cities, agencies
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | 32 |
| 2024 | 1,430 |
| 2025 | 1,487 |
| 2026 | 1,641 |
Table view
| Nov–Dec 2023 | €46.9M |
| 2024 | €317.5M |
| 2025 | €2.3B |
| 2026 | €499.4M |
- Other88
Table view
| Universities, schools and research | 2,183 |
| Cities, regions and central administration | 1,357 |
| Hospitals and health services | 299 |
| Armed forces and defence agencies | 243 |
| Economic affairs | 150 |
| Police, fire services and prisons | 132 |
| Culture, sport and religion | 80 |
| Urban transport operators | 57 |
| Other | 88 |
- Czechia729204 companies
- Spain518234 companies
- Romania494176 companies
- Germany454260 companies
- Poland435228 companies
- Slovakia32285 companies
- France203140 companies
- Lithuania18769 companies
- Ireland16882 companies
- Estonia15790 companies
Table view
| Czechia | 729 |
| Spain | 518 |
| Romania | 494 |
| Germany | 454 |
| Poland | 435 |
| Slovakia | 322 |
| France | 203 |
| Lithuania | 187 |
| Ireland | 168 |
| Estonia | 157 |
- Large companies
- Medium-sized
- Small
- Micro
- SME (size not stated)
- Size not stated
Table view
| Large companies | 492 · 10.7% |
| Medium-sized | 598 · 13% |
| Small | 813 · 17.7% |
| Micro | 332 · 7.2% |
| SME (size not stated) | 1,536 · 33.5% |
| Size not stated | 819 · 17.8% |
- Germany93
- United Kingdom52
- France46
- Lithuania43
- Netherlands38
- Czechia18
Table view
| Germany | 93 |
| United Kingdom | 52 |
| France | 46 |
| Lithuania | 43 |
| Netherlands | 38 |
| Czechia | 18 |
Table view
| 2023 | €8.7B |
| 2024 | €8.9B |
| 2025 | €8.7B |
Imports: Eurostat Comext, customs headings 9002, 9013, 9006, 9005, 9007, 9010, 9008 (only headings whose trade is mainly this category); all buyers, not only public ones.
Awards to companies registered in the buyer's own country
90.5%
435 awards went to companies registered elsewhere.
Share of the 5 biggest winners
7.3%
Of all awards; a high share means a concentrated market.
Lots with a single bid
39.6%
Among 4.2K awards whose notice states the number of tenders.
How we count: one award per procedure, lot and winning company, from live contract award notices; a joint procurement counts on every buyer's market. Values are the awarded amounts published in the notice (framework ceilings and estimates are never added), converted to euro at the ECB yearly average. Company size is the SME flag of the notice (eForms BT-165). Read the methodology.
Companies winning most often across Europe
- 1.OptiXs, s.r.o.Czechia · 68 notices
- 2.TOPTICA Photonics AGGermany · 35 notices
- 3.Menlo Systems GmbHGermany · 25 notices
- 4.Light Conversion UABLithuania · 19 notices
- 5.TOPAG Lasertechnik GmbHGermany · 19 notices
- 6.MIT, spol. s r. o.Czechia · 15 notices
- 7.Narran s.r.o.Czechia · 15 notices
- 8.Eurotek International Sp. z o.o.Poland · 13 notices
- 9.Glomex MS, s.r.o.Czechia · 13 notices
- 10.Single Quantum B.V.Netherlands · 11 notices
Companies with a public page whose main category is this group, by award notices; a market map in Cresques covers one country and, on paid plans, lists every winner there.
Country pages
- Czechia729
- Spain518
- Romania494
- Germany454
- Poland435
- Slovakia322
- France203
- Lithuania187
- Ireland168
- Estonia157
- Sweden106
- Denmark104
- Hungary95
- Greece90
- Norway87
- Italy84
- Bulgaria71
- Netherlands45
- Austria35
- Belgium29
Countries with fewer than 25 winning companies in this group have no separate page; their awards are counted above.
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Pick a country and see who wins there
A Cresques market map for one country and this category shows the companies that win these contracts there: how often, for how many buyers and for how much, and whether the leading ones are distributors or manufacturers.
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Questions
- How big is the optical instruments market in Europe?
- In 2025, public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 1,487 supply contracts for optical instruments through award notices on TED; the 1,140 of them that state a value (76.7%) add up to €2.31 billion. EU countries together imported €8.68 billion of goods in the customs headings matched to optical instruments in 2025 (Eurostat Comext, HS 9002, 9013, 9006, 9005, 9007 and 2 more headings; sum of national imports, trade between EU countries included; all buyers, not only public ones), down 0.4% from 2023.
- How many public contracts for optical instruments are awarded in Europe?
- Since November 2023 public buyers in 30 European countries awarded 4,590 supply contracts for optical instruments in 2,720 TED award notices; the 3,464 awards with a published value add up to €3.2B.
- Which countries buy the most optical instruments through public tenders?
- Czechia (729 awards), Spain (518 awards), Romania (494 awards) lead; 1,953 companies won at least one award across Europe.
- How often do foreign suppliers win optical instruments contracts?
- 9.5% of the awards went to a company registered in another country than the buyer; the most frequent foreign origin is Germany.
Source: contract award notices on TED — Tenders Electronic Daily (ted.europa.eu), © European Union, published since November 2023; processed by Cresques. Numbers updated 2026-11-13.