International trade; Dutch export specialisation with respect to the EU

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International trade; Dutch export specialisation with respect to the EU
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 2021 1.0 100.0 55.0 45.0
01 Live animals 2021 1.6 0.3 80.4 19.6
02 Meat and edible meat offal 2021 1.9 1.6 88.1 11.9
03 Fish and crustaceans, molluscs and... 2021 1.4 0.6 71.4 28.6
04 Dairy produce; birds eggs; natural... 2021 1.7 1.5 80.4 19.6
05 Products of animal origin, not els... 2021 1.7 0.1 32.7 67.3
06 Live trees and other plants; bulbs... 2021 19.3 2.0 93.2 6.8
07 Edible vegetables and certain root... 2021 3.2 1.2 81.6 18.4
08 Edible fruit and nuts; peel of cit... 2021 2.4 1.2 24.0 76.0
09 Coffee, tea, maté and spices 2021 1.1 0.2 56.2 43.8
10 Cereals 2021 0.2 0.1 43.4 56.6
11 Products of the milling industry; ... 2021 1.1 0.2 84.1 15.9
12 Oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; m... 2021 2.7 0.7 52.8 47.2
13 Lac; gums, resins and other vegeta... 2021 0.3 0.0 58.2 41.8
14 Vegetable plaiting materials; vege... 2021 3.2 0.0 39.1 60.9
15 Animal or vegetable fats and oils ... 2021 2.0 1.0 69.0 31.0
16 Preparations of meat, of fish or o... 2021 1.1 0.3 61.8 38.2
17 Sugars and sugar confectionery 2021 1.4 0.3 78.7 21.3
18 Cocoa and cocoa preparations 2021 2.1 0.8 64.5 35.5
19 Preparations of cereals, flour, st... 2021 1.2 0.9 81.3 18.7
20 Preparations of vegetables, fruit,... 2021 2.0 0.9 73.1 26.9
21 Miscellaneous edible preparations 2021 1.6 0.9 68.3 31.7
22 Beverages, spirits and vinegar 2021 1.0 1.2 66.4 33.6
23 Residues and waste from the food i... 2021 1.9 0.9 71.2 28.8
24 Tobacco and manufactured tobacco s... 2021 0.5 0.2 67.2 32.8
25 Salt; sulphur; earths and stone; p... 2021 1.1 0.2 72.5 27.5
26 Ores, slag and ash 2021 0.9 0.2 16.5 83.5
27 Mineral fuels, mineral oils and pr... 2021 2.9 12.6 59.5 40.5
28 Inorganic chemicals; organic or in... 2021 1.2 0.8 64.7 35.3
29 Organic chemicals 2021 1.3 3.2 72.4 27.6
30 Pharmaceutical products 2021 0.7 5.3 37.8 62.2
31 Fertilisers 2021 1.7 0.4 87.3 12.7
32 Tanning or dyeing extracts; tannin... 2021 1.2 0.8 54.2 45.8
33 Essential oils and resinoids; perf... 2021 0.6 0.8 67.4 32.6
34 Soap, organic surface-active agent... 2021 0.9 0.5 72.7 27.3
35 Albuminoidal substances; modified ... 2021 1.7 0.5 71.2 28.8
36 Explosives; pyrotechnic products; ... 2021 0.5 0.0 71.4 28.6
37 Photographic or cinematographic goods 2021 2.4 0.1 66.9 33.1
38 Miscellaneous chemical products 2021 1.6 2.8 39.5 60.5
39 Plastics and articles thereof 2021 1.0 4.6 75.2 24.8
40 Rubber and articles thereof 2021 0.7 0.8 40.6 59.4
41 Raw hides and skins (other than fu... 2021 0.4 0.0 60.0 40.0
42 Articles of leather; saddlery and ... 2021 0.5 0.3 38.4 61.6
43 Furskins and artificial fur; manuf... 2021 0.3 0.0 55.6 44.4
44 Wood and articles of wood; wood ch... 2021 0.3 0.4 59.3 40.7
45 Cork and articles of cork 2021 0.0 0.0 43.7 56.3
46 Manufactures of straw, of esparto ... 2021 2.7 0.0 46.7 53.3
47 Pulp of wood or of other fibrous c... 2021 0.9 0.2 37.2 62.8
48 Paper and paperboard; articles of ... 2021 0.6 1.0 77.4 22.6
49 Printed books, newspapers, picture... 2021 1.0 0.3 77.5 22.5
50 Silk 2021 0.0 0.0 22.1 77.9
51 Wool, fine or coarse animal hair; ... 2021 0.0 0.0 57.6 42.4
52 Cotton 2021 0.5 0.0 70.5 29.5
53 Other vegetable textile fibres; pa... 2021 0.4 0.0 80.5 19.5
54 Man-made filaments; strip and the ... 2021 1.3 0.2 73.6 26.4
55 Man-made staple fibres 2021 0.3 0.0 61.3 38.7
56 Wadding, felt and nonwovens; speci... 2021 0.6 0.1 74.2 25.8
57 Carpets and other textile floor co... 2021 2.9 0.2 77.7 22.3
58 Special woven fabrics; tufted text... 2021 0.4 0.0 69.3 30.7
59 Impregnated, coated, covered or la... 2021 0.8 0.1 65.6 34.4
60 Knitted or crocheted fabrics 2021 0.5 0.0 47.7 52.3
61 Articles of apparel and clothing a... 2021 0.9 1.0 1.5 98.5
62 Articles of apparel and clothing a... 2021 0.9 1.0 0.2 99.8
63 Other made-up textile articles; se... 2021 1.0 0.3 43.5 56.5
64 Footwear, gaiters and the like; pa... 2021 0.7 0.6 34.2 65.8
65 Headgear and parts thereof 2021 1.2 0.1 48.0 52.0
66 Umbrellas, sun umbrellas, walking ... 2021 2.0 0.0 41.2 58.8
67 Prepared feathers and down and art... 2021 2.4 0.0 54.1 45.9
68 Articles of stone, plaster, cement... 2021 0.5 0.2 72.8 27.2
69 Ceramic products 2021 0.4 0.1 61.1 38.9
70 Glass and glassware 2021 0.4 0.2 58.1 41.9
71 Natural or cultured pearls, precio... 2021 0.1 0.2 61.5 38.5
72 Iron and steel 2021 0.8 2.4 64.3 35.7
73 Articles of iron or steel 2021 0.6 1.4 65.6 34.4
74 Copper and articles thereof 2021 0.5 0.5 48.9 51.1
75 Nickel and articles thereof 2021 1.8 0.2 20.5 79.5
76 Aluminium and articles thereof 2021 0.8 1.0 53.8 46.2
78 Lead and articles thereof 2021 0.7 0.0 90.3 9.7
79 Zinc and articles thereof 2021 1.7 0.2 75.4 24.6
80 Tin and articles thereof 2021 2.0 0.0 19.1 80.9
81 Other base metals; cermets; articl... 2021 0.8 0.1 40.0 60.0
82 Tools, implements, cutlery, spoons... 2021 0.6 0.2 38.8 61.2
83 Miscellaneous articles of base metal 2021 0.4 0.2 50.5 49.5
84 Nuclear reactors, boilers, machine... 2021 1.0 13.0 57.2 42.8
85 Electrical machinery and equipment... 2021 1.1 10.1 21.9 78.1
86 Railway or tramway locomotives, ro... 2021 0.2 0.1 78.5 21.5
87 Vehicles other than railway or tra... 2021 0.3 3.7 76.2 23.8
88 Aircraft, spacecraft, and parts th... 2021 0.2 0.3 36.7 63.3
89 Ships, boats and floating structures 2021 1.6 0.9 77.2 22.8
90 Optical, photographic, cinematogra... 2021 1.7 5.9 33.2 66.8
91 Clocks and watches and parts thereof 2021 0.7 0.1 29.0 71.0
92 Musical instruments; parts and acc... 2021 1.4 0.0 38.8 61.2
93 Arms and ammunition; parts and acc... 2021 0.1 0.0 68.1 31.9
94 Furniture; bedding, mattresses, ma... 2021 0.6 1.0 49.9 50.1
95 Toys, games and sports requisites;... 2021 1.2 0.7 44.9 55.1
96 Miscellaneous manufactured articles 2021 0.9 0.3 68.8 31.2
97 Works of art, collectors' pieces a... 2021 0.4 0.0 84.1 15.9
98 Components of complete industrial ... 2021 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
99 Miscellaneous 2021 0.4 0.3 97.9 2.1
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.