Trade with Hungary stagnating

Following years of substantial growth, Dutch trade with Hungary stagnated in 2001. Dutch imports of goods from Hungary were five percent lower in 2001 than in 2000, while exports to Hungary rose by one percent. Total Dutch imports rose by one percent in the same period, exports by four percent. In the last five years the value of imports from Hungary has risen by 235 percent, that of exports by 187 percent. By comparison, total Dutch imports rose by 56 percent in this period, and exports by 57 percent.

Trade gap shrinking

The trade deficit with Hungary was 86 million euro in 2001, 78 million euro lower than in 2000. The deficit is especially reflected in the trade in machines. For computers in particular there is a deficit for the Netherlands: 0.4 billion euro in 2001. The Netherlands plays the role of distributor for these products.

Eastern Europe

Hungary, one of the EU candidate member states, is the third largest trading partner in terms of value of the Netherlands in Eastern Europe, after Russia and Poland. The Netherlands imported more than 8.6 billion euro worth of goods from Eastern Europe in 2001. Fifteen percent of these came from Hungary. In the opposite direction 13 percent of the 9.3 billion euro worth of goods that went to Eastern Europe went to Hungary.

Imports: computers account for more than forty percent

In 2001, 1.3 billion euro worth of goods were imported from Hungary. Total Dutch imports rose by one percent to 218 billion euro in the same year. Computers (incl. components) are the mainstay of imports from Hungary (40 percent).

Exports: machines account for more than half

Exports to Hungary amounted to 1.2 billion euro in 2001. Total Dutch exports amounted to 241.3 billion euro. More than half (54 percent) of exports to Hungary consisted of machines.

Wiel Packbier