International trade; Dutch export specialisation with respect to the EU

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Harmonized System Periods Balassa index (%) Share of chapter in total exports (%) Distribution of exports Exports of Dutch products Distribution of exports Re-exports
Total goods 2017 1.0 100.0 55.8 44.2
2018 1.0 100.0 56.0 44.0
2019 1.0 100.0 55.3 44.7
2020 1.0 100.0 54.7 45.3
2021 1.0 100.0 55.0 45.0
06 Live trees and other plants; bulbs... 2017 22.2 1.9 95.1 4.9
2018 20.8 1.8 94.7 5.3
2019 20.7 1.8 94.7 5.3
2020 19.4 2.0 94.5 5.5
2021 19.3 2.0 93.2 6.8
27 Mineral fuels, mineral oils and pr... 2017 3.0 13.1 60.6 39.4
2018 2.8 13.8 61.8 38.2
2019 2.9 13.1 64.6 35.4
2020 3.1 9.2 68.8 31.2
2021 2.9 12.6 59.5 40.5
29 Organic chemicals 2017 1.4 3.4 71.5 28.5
2018 1.3 3.6 69.0 31.0
2019 1.1 2.9 70.1 29.9
2020 1.0 2.7 66.7 33.3
2021 1.3 3.2 72.4 27.6
30 Pharmaceutical products 2017 0.8 4.9 38.5 61.5
2018 0.8 4.8 39.7 60.3
2019 0.8 5.2 41.1 58.9
2020 0.8 6.2 37.0 63.0
2021 0.7 5.3 37.8 62.2
39 Plastics and articles thereof 2017 1.1 4.5 77.7 22.3
2018 1.1 4.4 76.0 24.0
2019 1.0 4.2 74.4 25.6
2020 1.0 4.3 74.6 25.4
2021 1.0 4.6 75.2 24.8
72 Iron and steel 2017 1.0 2.4 63.7 36.3
2018 0.9 2.4 65.6 34.4
2019 0.9 2.1 65.7 34.3
2020 0.9 1.9 67.9 32.1
2021 0.8 2.4 64.3 35.7
84 Nuclear reactors, boilers, machine... 2017 0.9 12.8 49.4 50.6
2018 0.9 13.3 52.8 47.2
2019 0.9 13.5 52.0 48.0
2020 1.0 13.7 53.5 46.5
2021 1.0 13.0 57.2 42.8
85 Electrical machinery and equipment... 2017 1.1 10.2 18.7 81.3
2018 1.1 10.0 18.2 81.8
2019 1.1 10.5 19.5 80.5
2020 1.1 11.2 21.5 78.5
2021 1.1 10.1 21.9 78.1
87 Vehicles other than railway or tra... 2017 0.3 4.4 81.0 19.0
2018 0.3 4.5 79.5 20.5
2019 0.3 4.4 76.4 23.6
2020 0.3 4.1 76.4 23.6
2021 0.3 3.7 76.2 23.8
90 Optical, photographic, cinematogra... 2017 1.5 5.3 36.3 63.7
2018 1.6 5.5 32.7 67.3
2019 1.7 6.0 35.5 64.5
2020 1.7 6.1 30.9 69.1
2021 1.7 5.9 33.2 66.8
Source: CBS.
Explanation of symbols

Table explanation


This table describes the export specialisation of Dutch exports using the Balassa index. A Balassa index higher than 1 indicates specialisation in a product. If the index is below 1, there is no specialisation in that product.

The table also shows the share of each product chapter of the Harmonized System in total Dutch exports. Furthermore, it shows both the share of products made in the Netherlands as the re-exports of this chapter.

Data available from: 1996.

Status of the figures:
The figures are definite.

Changes as of December 19, 2022:
The final figures for 2021 have been added.

When will new figures be published?
The figures become available in the fourth quarter after the year under review.

Description topics

Balassa index
The Balassa index measures the degree of specialisation of the Dutch export products. A Balassa index higher than 1 indicates specialisation in that product; an index lower than 1 means that there is no specialisation in that product. In this table Dutch exports in a given product are compared to the exports of the EU (excluding the Netherlands). For the period 1996-2016 this comparison is with the EU-15, for 2017-2020 (January) with the EU-28 and from 2020 (February) with the EU-27.

For example, the Balassa index for cereals in 2009 is calculated as follows:

- Exports of cereals by the Netherlands: 397 million euro
- Total exports of the Netherlands: 309,359 million euro
- Exports of cereals by EU-15 (excluding the Netherlands): 9,916 million euro
- Total exports by EU-15 (excluding the Netherlands): 2,572,634 million euro
The Balassa index then equals:

(397 / 309,359 million euro)
--------- divided by --------------- = 0.3
(9,916 / 2,572,634 million euro)

The outcome is 0.3 so it is less than 1 which means that the Netherlands has no export specialisation for the export product cereals compared with the EU-15 member states.

Share of chapter in total exports
The share of the commodities in this chapter in the exports of all commodities together.
Distribution of exports
Exports of Dutch products
Exports of commodities produced or manufactured in the Netherlands.
Re-exports
Goods transported via the Netherlands, which are temporarily owned by a resident of the Netherlands, without any significant industrial processing.

Explanation
Re-exports include among other things commodities that are cleared through customs by Dutch distribution centres and are delivered to other countries (within Europe). Unlike transit trade, re-exports are part of Dutch imports and exports.