Dutch Trade in Facts and Figures 2021: Exports, imports and investment – An introduction

Dutch Trade in Facts and Figures 2021: Exports, imports and investment is a publication that has been developed by the Expertise Centre for Globalisation at Statistics Netherlands (CBS) and was commissioned by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It is a publication with annually recurring key economic figures and indicators in the area of the internationalisation of the Dutch economy and business economy. The publication and the accompanying data tables contain many time series, primarily at the upper macro or meso level, with a number of topics specifically geared towards the priorities that have been set in the trade agenda of the Dutch government.

Contents of 2021 edition

For the Netherlands, with its open economy, international trade is of crucial importance. Many Dutch companies, both large and small, do business in other countries. Other companies primarily supply exporting companies or multinationals, without being internationally active themselves. In addition, some Dutch companies have offices in multiple countries, or they are controlled by a foreign company, and they are therefore directly or indirectly part of global value chains. All these aspects of international trade and investment are addressed in the publication Dutch Trade in Facts and Figures 2021: Exports, imports and investment.

This publication consists of seven descriptive chapters, illustrated with many figures, 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 home page of this publication. The publication begins with a dashboard (Chapter 1) that provides an overview of the key findings from the other chapters and forms a common thread running throughout the publication. This common thread has the following structure:

• How much is earned through Dutch exports (Chapter 2)?
• Who is involved in international trade (Chapter 3)?
• What and how much is traded (Chapter 4)?
• With whom are goods traded (Chapter 5)?
• How do goods and services from the rest of the world work their way through the Netherlands (Chapter 6)?
• How much does the Netherlands invest internationally and how much do other countries invest in the Netherlands (Chapter 7)?
• What is the level of emissions to air associated with the international trade and transit flows (Chapter 8)?

What has changed in relation to the 2020 edition?

A number of adjustments have been made in relation to the 2020 edition. Among other things, there is a stronger focus on Dutch imports. Chapter 3 devotes more attention to the number of jobs at companies with imports (or exports) and focuses on the professional characteristics of the people who hold those positions. A distinction is also made according to the extent to which a company is dependent on imports. Chapter 6 further explores the role and use of Dutch imports. Among other things, we examine what happens to the goods and services that enter the Netherlands. These imports can have four destinations: (1) imports for direct consumption in the Netherlands; (2) imports for production and services in the Netherlands, for consumption in the Netherlands; (3) imports for production and services in the Netherlands, for export; and (4) imports directly destined for export abroad. A substantial share of these imported goods and services turns out to be essential for companies to be able to export competitively.

Compared to the 2020 edition, Chapter 2 now also specifies the earnings from exports of goods and services by destination. This makes it clear which exports, and to which country, earn the most for the Netherlands, and whether these earnings come from domestic exports, re-exports or export of services. Also new in Chapter 2 is a more detailed specification of the contribution of exports to GDP growth in the Netherlands. This shows that, with the exception of 2017, exports of goods and services between 2016 and 2019 contributed less to the volume growth of GDP than did domestic expenditure.

In Chapter 4, the section on carry-along trade is omitted. In its place, there is a greater focus on the concentration of the international trade in goods and services.

Finally, a seventh and completely new chapter has been added to this publication. In this chapter, we illustrate how emissions to air of CO₂, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter are linked with international goods flows into, through or out of the Netherlands. The growth of international trade and transit flows, and their impact on the environment, are a matter of growing concern. It is obvious that growth in the trade in goods goes hand-in-hand with strong growth in transport by ship, plane, train and lorry of semi-finished goods and end products, which is accompanied by emissions of all kinds of harmful substances. The focus in this additional chapter is on actual emissions to air from mobile sources in connection with cross-border trade and transit flows on Dutch territory. Various statistics are linked for this purpose: (1) import, export and transit trade statistics; (2) statistics on the international trade in goods; and (3) statistics on actual emissions to air.

Actual figures, including trade: corona box

Due to the emergency measures imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus, many economies contracted at an unprecedented rate in 2020. According to IMF estimates, the global economy shrank by 3.3% in 2020 and Europe recorded an economic contraction of 5.8% (IMF, 2021). When a shock occurs, as in the case of a pandemic, it not only affects the traders who are directly involved but also everyone who is connected through production chains. This also applies to Dutch companies; they too have increasingly become part of global production processes and more dependent on foreign suppliers and buyers. CBS calculations show that in 2020, Dutch GDP contracted by 3.8% compared to a year earlier (CBS, 2021a; CBS, 2021b).

Many of the trends in this publication concern the years up to and including 2019. However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 and – to a certain extent – also 2021 were atypical years. To take account of this, some indicators for 2020 and, if possible, the first half of 2021 are included in the corona box below. These include economic growth figures; the development of the international trade value for each month; the import value of face masks up to and including Q2 2021; figures on developments with regard to air traffic; the importance of the contribution of exports to GDP and employment; and the extent to which Dutch companies, and specifically international goods traders, made use of the Dutch government’s coronavirus support and recovery package. Chapters 4, 5 and 7 also cover Dutch trade and investments at the time of the coronavirus crisis.

Current trade and investment figures: Brexit

The coronavirus crisis is hitting both our economy and the entire global economy hard. In addition, the Netherlands is facing other challenges (Van Der Heijden et al., 2021): new trade barriers due to the departure of the UK from the European Union (Brexit); the climate crisis; the sanctions imposed by the European Union on China and Russia, among others; and the pressure on the balance of power between the EU, the economic giant China, and the world’s largest economy, the United States.

At the time of writing, the most recent developments in Dutch-British relations – as a consequence of Brexit – are still largely limited to trade figures up to and including Q1 2021. In Chapter 5, there is greater emphasis on Dutch trade with the United Kingdom (UK), as a result of Brexit. Chapter 7 also briefly discusses the impact of Brexit on the direct investment relationship with the UK. At the time of writing, the investment figures were available up to the end of 2020.

References

Open references