Introduction

Dutch Trade in Facts and Figures 2019 – Export, investment and employment

is a publication which has been developed by the Expertise Centre for Globalisation at Statistics Netherlands (CBS), commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The current edition (2019) is the first release of this publication. Each annual edition will carry updates on a set of key economic figures and indicators. The publication contains many time series, primarily at the upper macro or meso level, with several topics specifically geared towards the priorities that have been set in the trade agenda of the Dutch Cabinet. This publication addresses the need for quick access to the most important data on internationalisation of the Dutch business economy and the wider economy.

Dutch Trade in Facts and Figures 2019 – Export, investment and employment consists of six descriptive chapters, richly illustrated with graphs, infographics and tables. These chapters present the key trends, figures and developments. The complete datasets that form the basis of these chapters are so extensive that they have not been included in full here; they can be accessed and downloaded from the main page of this publication. The chapters are preceded by an overarching dashboard (Chapter 1), which provides an overview of the key findings from the other chapters and forms the common thread throughout this publication. It runs through essential information such as: how much is earned through Dutch exports (Chapter 2), who is involved in international trade (Chapter 3), what is being traded (Chapter 4), with whom are we trading (Chapter 5), the main markets for our intermediate goods (Chapter 6) and the size of inward and outward foreign investments (Chapter 7).

Chapter 2 presents the total earnings generated in the Netherlands by exports and the differences in earnings between domestic exports, re-exports and the export of services. The significance of exports is also illustrated by the large number of jobs across exporting industries and additional jobs that are created by their suppliers. The Netherlands is interwoven with international supply chains. Much of the manufacturing production taking place here requires raw materials and semi-finished products from other countries. In turn, the Netherlands is a supplier of inputs for products manufactured abroad. The import content of exports is an indicator of the degree to which these production chains are interconnected.

The companies which are active in international trade are different in many respects. Some of them merely export while some merely import, others trade both ways; the latter group are the so-called two-way traders. The distribution over the groups is different for independent SMEs and large enterprises. This holds true for both Dutch and foreign companies as well as for multinational corporations. Furthermore, there are differences between the various groups of internationally active companies in terms of company age, productivity, wages and the male/female ratio of entrepreneurs. Chapter 3 describes these characteristics for the whole Dutch business economy. The same characteristics are studied from the perspective of the so-called top sectors.

Exports and imports involve trading of different types of goods and services. All this trade is conducted by companies that are active in different industries and located in different parts of the Netherlands. The actual goods and services that are traded, by which industries and in which provinces, is described in Chapter 4. The same questions are also addressed for the top sectors.

International trade takes place with different countries, within and outside the European Union. As part of the Netherlands’ official trade agenda, there is extra monitoring of Dutch trade relations with 40 selected countries. Which countries are the main export markets and which are the major suppliers? What is the position of the Netherlands in the external goods trade of the United States, China or Russia, for example? And how important is the European Union to the Netherlands? Conversely, how important is the Netherlands to the other EU countries? These questions are addressed in Chapter 5.

As mentioned earlier, the Netherlands is increasingly operating as part of global value chains. The question arises whether this is also evident from the types of goods entering and (subsequently) leaving the country. What is the role of intermediate products such as raw materials and semi-finished goods in our external goods trade? Many of these imported intermediate products are used by Dutch manufacturers. The Netherlands also produces such intermediate goods by itself, which partly ends up abroad. Where are the largest markets for Dutch intermediate goods, and how are the ratios developing? These questions are addressed in Chapter 6.

Aside from trading in goods and/or services, companies can also conduct international business by making foreign direct investments. The Netherlands is a substantial foreign investor, but also receives large flows of foreign direct investment. These investments are undertaken by multinational corporations that are under either Dutch or foreign control. The question how many multinational corporations are active in the Dutch business economy and how much trade and employment these corporations generate, is discussed in Chapter 7. Conversely, the role of Dutch multinational corporations abroad is addressed here as well.